No way! A Kim and Jaredstory
by miilla
Summary: -'"Kim?" No way. There was NO WAY that Jared could have finally noticed me. No way.' My take on Jared's and Kim's story, Kim POV.
1. No way!

A Jared and Kim story. Just my take on Kim's feelings when Jared finally notices her. One-Shot.

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I heard him enter the room. He was talking to his friends. His voice was impossible to ignore. It was so loud and rumbling. That wasn't the only reason I could sense him in the room. I was so devoted to him that I could pick out the sound of his steps in the middle of a crowd. I know it's weird, but that's me. Weird. Because I'm Kim.

I didn't look up when he threw himself down into his chair, right next to me. I was trying to hide how aware I was of him. I mean, everyone does that when they have a crush, right?

Fine, not everyone. My best friend Alex was one of the few people I knew with no scruples to worry about. She never thought twice, and it led to both scandals and success. Mostly scandals. But she never backed down, no matter how many times she was rejected by her crushes or whatever she had been getting herself into. But I wasn't like that. I was very cowardly to even talk to Jared. Actually, I was too cowardly to talk to any boys. That's just me. Because I'm Kim.

The teacher strolled into the classroom. How strange, I hadn't even heard the bell. But maybe that's not so strange, being me. I wasn't known for being very observant.

Our English teacher, Mr Leighton, started to talk about something, but I couldn't pay attention. I never could. I was failing in English, just because of Jared. I really should be pissed at him, but I wasn't able to make myself. I sighed quietly, depressed by my own stupidity.

It was probably safe to look up now. I could just throw a quick glance at Jared, and pretend that I was just looking around in the classroom. That was a normal thing to do. I did that just too many times during an English lesson. It was strangely addicting.

I lifted my head up. My eyes drifted from the teacher's desk, over the classroom door, sliding over Jennifer, Gordon and Carol and stopping with Jared. I had to bite my lip to not gasp loudly, because he was looking right at me. His face had an inscrutable expression. I turned my head away immediately, embarrassed to be caught staring.

Stupid, _stupid_ Kim! I yelled at myself quietly. I tried hard to pay attention to Mr Leighton. I really did. He was talking about… something. I _think_ it was Shakespeare. But my eyes didn't work right. They wouldn't send a complete and clear picture of the blackboard to my brain, because my brain was occupied. Don't even have to say with what.

I sighed and looked down at my notebook. Horrified I noticed that what was supposed to be notes from the teacher's lecture, was hearts around my and Jared's names. I quickly turned the page.

Please, _please_ don't say Jared saw my "notes". I glanced up at him again. Argh. He was looking at me now too. What are the odds? Twice in one day? I really had to work on this "not getting caught when staring"-thing. It was getting kind of toilsome.

I broke away from Jared's gaze. I forced myself to look at my desk, and made my hand move over the paper. I was pretty sure Mr Leighton was talking about Shakespeare, so I wrote that down on the page. My hand was shaking, so the name wasn't readable.

The next fifteen minutes of the lesson went by painless. At least the closest to painless I'll ever get. Then I just _had_ to look at Jared again. He was need for me. Just as important as food or water.

I turned to look at him. He was _still_ looking at me. How stupid can this get?

In stead of just looking down right away, I stared back at him. He didn't move his head or look away. How weird.

I forced my lips to smile. I'm not so sure it can be qualified as a smile, though. I think it looked more like a desperate grimace of some kind. But nonetheless, he grinned back. His smile was so wide that you can easily call it an ear-to-ear smile without exaggerating much. I felt my face become warm. Right. Why not blush _now_, this was the perfect time.

I bit my lips and looked up on the blackboard. Now I couldn't see anything. Mr Leighton could have turned blue and I wouldn't react. He could blow up as a balloon and explode and I wouldn't even blink.

The rest of the lesson went by in a blur. I think the teacher spoke my name once, and I answered without thinking. Then the bell rang, and I was only vaguely aware of people moving around me.

"Kim?"

The voice came from next to me. I turned my head. It was. I really was Jared. He knew my name! I almost jumped up and did a pirouette on the top of my desk, that's how happy I felt. But in stead, I just answered;

"Yes?" My voice sounded almost normal, just a little hysterical. I'd say that's a success.

"See you around," Jared grinned.

"Uh huh," I made my head nod. Jared's grin widened a little, before he grabbed his bag and walked fast and elegant out of the classroom. In the door he turned and smiled to me one last time, before he disappeared.

I slowly packed my notebook back in my bag and walked out of the classroom to my next classroom, trying to wake myself and get back to real life. Because there was _no_ way Jared could have finally noticed me. _No way_.

* * *

First fan fiction!

Was it good? Please review!

Please, please, please, please, please!

If you do, I'll review one of yours! Or two.

Whatever, just _please _leave me a little note, good or bad??


	2. Plans

Here's chapter two. I changed my mind. Didn't want this to be a one-shot after all =P

So, enjoy, and review :D

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I spent the rest of the day and all night thinking about him. How could one person make you so obsessed? I couldn't concentrate on anything else. I didn't even look at my homework. I just lay down on my bed and stared up on the roof. All night I tried to make myself sleep, but I kept twisting around. The mental picture of his perfect face wouldn't go away. And, honestly, I didn't really want it to.

When the time came to my next English class, Alex and Gina had to drag me to the classroom.

"He talked to you, didn't he?" Alex said as she and Gina pushed me through the hallways.

"Yes," I said. I tried to grab onto the walls to stop them. "But that doesn't mean he likes me!" I exclaimed.

"Ah, come on, Kim!" Gina said. "Get over yourself. Talk to the guy!"

"But I don't know how to!" I panted, and threw myself away from them. I clung to an open door, causing the students inside the classroom to throw me weird glances. The students _outside_ the classroom, in the hallways, laughed at me. I think I heard one of them say the words "mentally ill" as he passed me.

"Don't be silly. You open your mouth and make sounds. Come on,"

They grabbed my arms and started dragging me again. I protested loudly, but they didn't budge. Eventually we were outside my class. Gina took off immediately, but Alex stayed with me. She laid her hands on my shoulders.

"I have faith in you," she said sternly and looked me straight in the eyes.

"I don't!" I hissed desperately.

"Be safe, soldier," she said, before she spun me around and pushed me in the direction of the door. I stumbled over the doorframe. I straightened myself, before I took a look around the classroom. Jared was already there. How odd. He was never there early. I'd know, since I'd been obsessed with the guy for ages, and took interest in everything he did.

Jared was looking at me, and I felt myself blushing. He smiled at me when I looked up. I didn't manage to smile back. I even had problems with making me feet move properly. But they walked me to my seat, as they were supposed to, without stumbling over something again.

Jared smiled even wider when I sat down. I half-expected the seat to be filled with water. That would be the sort of prank Jared and his friends could pull. It would also explain his huge grin. But the seat felt dry, so I relaxed. Well, not relaxed. I mean, I did have the cutest guy ever right next to me.

"Hello," he said cheery.

"Hi," I muttered in return. I dragged my winter jacket off, and hung it over the back of the chair. All the time I felt Jared's eyes on me. It made me feel very self-conscious. I smoothed my already too-flat hair, and moved my head to look at him again. He saw this as an opportunity to speak.

"How are you?" he asked formally.

"Good," I answered quietly.

"Great!" he exclaimed loudly. I jumped lightly in surprise. His face turned worried for a second, before he kept talking. "So, I was just wondering…" he started. Just then Mr. Leighton came into the classroom and hushed everyone. _NO!_ I wanted to shout. _Go back out, Jared's talking to me!_

"Settle down, everyone," he said loudly. I looked at Jared. He smiled apologetically at me. I tried to smile back. I didn't even try and concentrate this lesson. I knew it would be hopeless, even harder than it normally was. Jared wasn't paying attetnion either. He was staring at me. It felt so awkward, and I didn't dare to look back at him. When the class finished, I was so eager to get out of the room that I managed to push my pencil case to the floor. Everything rolled out of it. I stifled a groan, and bowed down to gather it. Suddenly two copper skinned hands appeared next to mine. I froze and looked up. Jared was kneeling next to me. His face was only inches from my face.

"Here," he said, smiling. He held my pencil case out for me. He was obviously much faster with his fingers than I was. I grabbed it hastily, and muttered a "thank you". Then I pushed my books and pencil case into my backpack and stalked out of the room. Jared jogged up next to me.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yes," I said in a low voice. I dared to turn my head to look at him, and regretted it at once. He was smiling again, his eyes looking right into my face. I blushed and looked back down at my feet.

My eyes flickered around the hallway, looking for an escape. I knew I was being stupid. This is what you want, I tried to tell myself, but I wouldn't listen. Why did I have to be so silly around boys? Or only around Jared, really. I knew that if I tried to speak more than one syllable at the time, I would probably start blushing like crazy and choke to get a intelligent word out of my mouth. And that intelligent word would never come. In the end I'd probably just run away, drowning in my own tears. It's very, very pathetic, but me being me…

"What's your next class?" Jared asked me, trying to catch my eyes.

"Um…" I have no idea! I searched frantically around my mind to remember, but I just couldn't! "Um…" I repeated, feeling like a complete idiot. Then I remembered I usually met up with Alex after English, so we could walk together to Spanish. "Spanish," I spluttered out.

"'Kay. Mind if I walk you there?"

"Um…" Okay, this is getting pretty silly. "No?" I said. It came out like a question. Jared chuckled.

"No, you don't want me to, or no, you don't mind?" he asked. He sounded amused. I guess he had his right to do so.

"I don't mind," W-O-W. Three syllables. I'm getting better at this. I moved my eyes up to Jared's face, and he was beaming down at me. I blushed again, and looked away. I wanted to say something, so we wouldn't have to walk beside each other in this awkward silence. But I couldn't find anything worth saying. Jared solved my problem by being the one to speak.

"What are you doing later?" he asked boldly. Was he asking what I thought he was asking? Was he… asking me out?

"Um…" Smooth, Kim. "I think I have to watch my little sister," I said, recalling a conversation I had with my mother this morning. I was disappointed. I wanted to go out with him! All my plans of escaping suddenly faded away.

"Want some help?" His question took me by surprise.

"What?" I asked foolishly.

"Do you want some help babysitting your sister?" he repeated, a smile in his voice.

"Um…" – my new favorite word. "Sure," I croaked out.

"Great!" he exclaimed, making me jump again. Why these sudden outbursts? "So, can I come home with you right after school, then?" he continued excitedly. We were outside my classroom now. I didn't really want to go in.

"Um…" SERIOULSY, KIM! "Sure," I muttered. Good thing I tidied my room yesterday. Usually it looked like a jungle in there, but now I could actually see the floor. And I even had some extra space on my desk.

"See you then," Jared said, grinning.

"Okay," I almost whispered. He blinked at me before he walked in back the way we came from. I didn't even have time to turn before something heavy landed on my back. I was dragged down by the force.

"Alex!" I groaned, and I heard her quiet laughter behind me.

"Did I just hear what I think I heard?" she asked excitedly as I turned to face her.

"That depends," I said mystically. She shot me an unhappy glare.

"Kim!" she said, sounding almost angry.

"Yes, you did," I said in a quiet voice. Her face lit up in a huge smile. She started bouncing, dragging me after her into the classroom and pushing me into my chair. She sat down in her own, facing me.

"Tell me everything," she said. I did a Kim:

"Um… I…" I blanked. "I don't remember," I admitted. "But I think he's coming home with me after school,"

"You think?" Alex screamed, causing three people to turn their curious faces towards us.

"Shh!" I said quickly to Alex, avoiding their eyes.

"This is incredible!" Alex said in a slightly lower voice. Incredible? Thanks a lot!

"I know," I breathed.

"How did he ask?" she pressed.

"Um…" – who knew? "He asked if I was doing something later. And I said I was babysitting Gretchen…"

"You did not!" Alex said angrily. "Have you any idea of…"

"Hush!" I hurriedly said. "I didn't think clearly! But anyway, he asked if he could come." Alex looked shocked. It took her a few seconds to recover and push out her next question.

"Please, please tell me you said yes?" she begged.

"I said yes," I said, and gave her a small smile. Alex expression was so lit up and happy that words cannot describe it. Then the Spanish teacher came running in the door. She started hushing everybody frantically while she messed around in her papers, calling up names to the students, who were oh-so-not paying attention.

I saw my next classes as a blur. I think I answered several questions when the teachers spoke directly to me, but I have no idea what I said. I could have been talking about how to clone vegetables for all I knew. But as far as I could remember, nobody laughed, so I couldn't have been that far out. Hopefully.

When my last class ended (I have no idea what subject it was) I was vaguely aware of Gina leading me out. She seemed a little irritated with my off behavior. She led me out on the grounds. I saw someone big and beautiful a few feet in front of me. Alex let go of my arm, and pushed me slightly towards Jared.

"Go have fun," she encouraged. I swallowed, before I bravely took the first step in Jared's direction.

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That's chapter two.

Tell me what you think, and if I should continue!

Lots of love...


	3. Girl power

**Chapter three. **

**I don't own anything.**

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To say this was awkward would be an understatement.

We were in my bedroom. I was sitting in me chair in front of the desk, my arms holding my knees close to my chest, and he was sitting on my bed, his eyes on _me_. He was smiling, like always. I wanted to say something, but since, apparently, I'm no good at speaking _words_, I just kept my mouth shut. But after twenty minutes of this, I really think one of us should say _something_!

I cleared my throat. But before I got a word out, I heard Gretchen start screaming in the living room. I hopped to my feet, glad to finally move. I avoided Jared's eyes as I hurried out of the room and to Gretchen. She was sitting in front of the TV, pointing and crying.

"What is it?" I asked, trying to make my voice sound soft, like mum did. It was futile. I was no good with children. It was sad, but true. I guess I'm not very good in anything…

"He _died_!" she cried. I looked at the TV-screen and saw a grey cat chasing a brown mouse. Tom and Jerry?

"No, see, they're still alive," I said. She stopped crying for a second to see it I was telling the truth. When she realized I did, she wiped her tears away and kept watching. She didn't say a word to me. I sighed and straightened myself. Hesitantly I walked back to my room. The reason I was hesitating, was of course because of the awkward silence and staring. I was beginning to wonder if Jared actually had any brain cells at all.

Right before I stepped through the doorframe, I heard a loud crack from inside my room. I dragged the door open (I couldn't remember to have closed it…) and found my room empty.

"Jared?" I said in an uncertain voice. There was no doubt, of course, my tiny room was empty. How odd. Had he gone somewhere else? Then he must have been awfully quiet – I hadn't heard a thing. I walked to the bathroom, and found the door open and the room just as empty as my bedroom. Then I checked the kitchen, and the same there.

"Gretchen?" I called, hurrying into the living room. "Gretchen, did you see someone?" She shook her head in a childish way, never taking her eyes from the TV-screen. I searched the rest of our house. In the end I just had to settle with that he'd left. I dragged myself to my bedroom and sat down on my bed.

Why would he leave? Was I really that boring to be with? _Yes, and you already knew that_, I mentally told myself. Yeah, I guess I knew that, but it still was pretty hard to take. I'd actually thought he liked me, in one way or another. I mean, he _was_ the one who took the initiative; he was the one who wanted to come home with me…

I suddenly felt a big lump in my throat. I tried to swallow it, but that just made me feel strangled. I eventually let out a loud gasp, and then I'd done it. The tears streamed uncontrollably down my cheeks, and I cradled together on top of my covers, pressing me knees to my chest.

I was acting stupid, and thinking of that pushed me even further down. How can one person be so silly? Of course a guy like Jared wouldn't like _me_. It had been foolish to even think such a thing, I realized now. What must he think of me? I couldn't talk right, blushed when I only looked at him and sat silent in twenty minutes just letting him _look _at me. Maybe he thought I was shallow too?

It took me a while to calm myself enough to sit up. I wiped away the last tears. I let out a hysterical laugh. This was just so _me_. Crying over a boy I barely knew… scratch that. A boy who barely knew _me_. I'd been watching his every step for almost a year, so I knew him pretty well. Why was I wasting my time? _Because I'm Kim_, ringed through my mind. Well, that wasn't a good enough excuse anymore. What happened to girl power? I'm a strong, independent woman, I could handle this. I'd just have to avoid him. Or better, treat him like he didn't matter to me at all. I could do that. I would just have to _not_ be so Kimish for a while.

By the next day, I wasn't so confident anymore. At lunch I was secretly watching him. I tore my eyes off of him, telling myself that this was just the sort of thing I wasn't going to do.

"What happened yesterday, Kimmy?" Gina asked as she propped her face full of food. I groaned. I hated that nickname.

"Nothing," I said honestly. "He left," I added.

"He what?" Alex asked in a shocked voice. I sighed and focused on keeping my eyes dry.

"He left," I repeated.

"Why?" Alex continued, her voice still colored with disbelief.

"Don't know. He didn't even tell me," I said, and shrugged, as if this didn't matter at all. _Very good, Kim,_ I encouraged myself. This seemed to work. My two best friends in the world looked like they bought it. Although they hadn't really had the chance to try and sooth me yet…

"He did _what_?" Gina exclaimed.

"He left," I said sharply, not even faking the annoyance. They both just stared at me for a few seconds, then Alex kicked herself and her chair closer to embrace me. I avoided her arms.

"I'm fine," I said quickly. "He wasn't _that_ special," I lied smoothly. They froze again. Gina was the one to break the silence this time, in a very Ginaish way.

"And you find that out _now_?" she hissed. "I've been forced to listen to your totally uninteresting jabber about that moron for _a year_, and when he finally notices you…"

"Gina!" Alex cut her off, sending Gina an angry look. Her face turned concerned when she looked at me again.

"You sure you're okay?" she asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Now you're sounding like my mum," I told her, forcing a smile. Gina chuckled and agreed with me, causing Alex to stick her tongue out at both of us. They changed the subject after that, and I was glad. I still had to fight my tears, but that only motivated me. I was going to get through this with my dignity unharmed.

I still couldn't stop myself for turning my head to the right, towards Jared's table. I almost jumped in shock when I saw him staring at me. Weird. He didn't smile like he'd done earlier. His eyes were intense and serious. I blushed, but didn't look away before I'd made my eyebrows furrow down in an angry grimace.

I reached the classroom before him. I dragged my books up, and started looking through my homework. I heard his footsteps come through the door, but didn't look up. Not when he sat down either. I pretended to be focusing very hardly on the exercises on my desk, but really, I was just writing the first words that crossed my mind. After about thirty seconds, he spoke.

"Kim?" he said. I ignored my fluttering stomach when he said my name.

"What?" I answered, without looking up from my book. He paused for a second.

"About yesterday…" he started, but stopped again.

"What about it?" I asked coldly. I thought this was going rather well. I even managed to speak clearly, no stuttering or blushing.

"I didn't mean to…" he started, and I realized I didn't want to hear what he wanted to say. If he was going to try and console me, I wasn't crazy about hearing it. I couldn't. I didn't trust myself enough yet. What good would come out of it? Either I'd break down in tears or I'd… No, I'd most likely just start crying.

"It's fine, Jared," I said in an rejecting voice. "Not interested. I get it, okay? Don't tire yourself out with finding excuses." That silenced him. Mr. Leighton stalked into the classroom. _I'm loving your timing, mister_, I thought sourly. Yesterday I'd thought the opposite. The teacher's arriving put a stop any smart comment Jared might have come up with.

It was even harder to concentrate now than ever in English. After a while I gave up, and stared up on the blackboard without really bothering focusing my vision enough to see what was written on it. I felt Jared's eyes on me again, but didn't turn. When the bell rang, I quickly gathered my things and ran out before he even had the time to close his book.

I fought my tears in the hallway while I was on my way to meet Alex. _This was a success_, I told myself, but I didn't believe in it. How could it be a success, when I felt the way I did? I'd done nothing but pushing myself to the limit. Just one wrong move now and I would fall over.

I met up with Alex outside the girls' bathroom. Her face was bright and excited. Oh no… I knew that look just a little too well. Was it too late to turn and go back?

"Kim!" Alex squealed as soon as she saw me. She pressed her way through the students. She grabbed my arms and shook me. _Yep, it's a boy_, I thought sourly.

"I just met the most gorgeous guy you can ever imagine!" she informed me, still smiling from ear to ear.

"Wow, that's a new one," I said sarcastically. I forced out a teasing smile. She didn't seem to notice the wry edge to my voice.

"His name is Cameron, and he's gorgeous!" Didn't she already say that? "He's new here, of course. And he was like, so shy and everything, but then I went and talked with him and he's _adorable_!"

"M-hm…" I muttered, and started leading her through the crowd to Spanish. I'd learned through Alex's dating history that if I just pretended to be listening, making some sort of sound every now and then, she'd be happy.

"He's like… gorgeous… and he speaks so… grown-up, you know?" she continued.

"Right," I said.

"So, I talked to him, and he like totally didn't know anything about the area, so tomorrow I'm going to show him! I mean, we're going to town together!" she squeaked. _Great_, I thought, and groaned mentally. It was like she'd forgotten all about my broken heart. How could she think about _Cameron_ when I was in such pain? Oh, right. She thought I was doing fine. I sighed and half-listened to her description of Cameron the rest of the way. The only thing I really caught was that he was _gorgeous_.

The weird thing was that I actually took comfort in her falling in love. I guess it showed that love doesn't always rip you into pieces. Now I felt like a know-it-all. Like I knew anything about love? I was just obsessed with a guy who was too good for me, and we both knew it. There was _no way_ anything would ever happen between us.

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**So that's that...**

**I'm not quite pleased with this chapter, but I'm not sure what's wrong... **

**If you guys see something, please tell me.**


	4. Gross

**Here comes chapter four. **

**I don't own Kim or Jared, but I do own Cameron, Gina, Alex and Gina's and all of Alex's exes. They're all mine. **

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Cameron wasn't gorgeous at all.

He was… what's the word… an idiot.

Seriously, his mouth hang open almost all the time, and he always let out this foolish snickers with no apparent reason. His colorless hair was long and undone, and I would gladly have gambled my sneakers that he hadn't had a shower for at least two weeks. And I love those sneakers. He didn't dress pretty at all; his clothes were either too big or too small. Like right now, he was wearing huge jeans and a tight sweater revealing much more than I wanted to see.

Normally I wouldn't have been so mean. I had gone through a personality-swap after Jared, thought just in my head. I had to pretend everything was normal to Gina and Alex. They hadn't noticed anything. I guess Alex would have, if she hadn't been occupied with her oh-so-not-gorgeous _Cameron_. I mentally grimaced as I though his name.

I physically grimaced as I now watched him stuff his face full of ice cream. _I'm so never eating vanilla ice cream again_, I thought dryly.

He grinned at Alex, who was watching him in awe. _Ew_. I looked at Gina, and found her face mirroring mine. Great, so I was becoming Gina, now… Ew.

"I just remembered," Gina said suddenly, jumping to her feet. "I have a test tomorrow. Got to go," she said. I was panicking, trying to find an excuse to leave to. I came up with… nothing. Why did my brain have to fail _now_?

"I'll help you," I called hastily after Gina as she reached the door to the café.

"'Kay," Alex said in a dreamy voice. _Ew_.

I caught up with Gina on the parking lot.

"Never leave a soldier behind," I said accusingly.

"Hey! I'm taking care of _me_. You take care of yourself!" she snapped back. I rolled my eyes.

"It was still rotten," I muttered. Okay, this so wasn't me. I was never cranky. I was actually never mad at anyone. Alex used to say I had to learn to speak up for myself. Well, I was doing that now alright.

I sighed as I thought of Jared, but quickly disguised it as a yawn so Gina wouldn't be suspicious. She wasn't the most sympathetic friend, but she knew me well enough to know that when I sighed for no apparent reason, there was something wrong. If she thought it was something she didn't already know, she would nag until I spilled my guts.

"That guy was gross," I said to get her away from any possible suspicion of me not telling her something.

"Tell me about it," Gina said and wrinkled her nose. I stifled a relieved sigh. "And he isn't gorgeous at all!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air.

"I know. Where did we go wrong with that girl? I thought we taught her the difference between hot and not," I said, purposely sounding like a parent.

"I guess it was somewhere between George the Gooey and Kim the male," Gina grinned. Kim the male. I'd been completely shocked to find that Alex had found herself a boyfriend who shared my name! I insisted that everyone called me Kimberly until she was done with the obnoxious guy. It didn't last very long, luckily.

"Probably. Or maybe it was that "Girls only"-camp she was on when we were thirteen. I mean, she must have grown pretty desperate after that, and maybe it just never wore off?" I suggested.

"Maybe. The other boys she have had the past three years hasn't exactly been very preferable either. Do you remember Andrew?"

"Shortest relationship ever. It took him thirty minutes to cheat on her with the shallow cheerleader."

"And William?"

"Ugh. What about M… something…"

"Marcilius! Of course, he was just downright strange."

"He was better than your Timian." I mumbled. Gina gasped.

"Was not!"

"Was too," I teased.

"Timian was great!"

"That, for you, is great? I'd take Cameron."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Over Jared, too?"

That stopped me. I bit my lip, frantically searching for a respond to that. I felt Gina's gaze on me all the time, waiting for me to answer. _Come on, Kim_, I thought. _Don't mess this up!_

I'd gone a whole week ignoring Jared. It had been very hard, seeing that he just kept staring at me. It made me very self-conscious and my face had gotten this constant red color, because I kept blushing.

To hear Gina say his name made a sharp pain shoot though my body, lingering where my heart was supposed to be. I pressed my voice through my lips, and, surprisingly:

"Um…"

I stared at me soaking sneakers where they clabbered forward on the wet, watery ground. Gina waited for my answer a little longer, and then she said in a low voice:

"I knew you weren't over him." I didn't have an answer for that either, so I didn't move my eyes. We walked in silence for a little while longer. When we reached Gina's house, I forced myself to speak words.

"Jared's an idiot," I said in an ice-cold voice. And it was true, every one of my three, honest words. Gina nodded approvingly at me.

"Good. Now you'll just have to teach your heart that too," she said. She hugged me lightly and then walked off into her house. I lingered at the way home, moving my feet slowly over the pavement. I was happy for the rain, for once. It soaked my hair and made raindrops fall down my face and body. I might have been crying, but I couldn't know for sure. And if I was, it would just make me a bigger fool. I'd said it myself. _Jared's an idiot_. He is.

Only too bad my heart can be very stubborn sometimes.

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**Very short, I know, but I'm hoping to have the next chapter up by tomorrow. **

**Maybe even later today if I get the time. **

**Be a good reader and review for me please =P**


	5. Creepy

**I don't own anything. (Do I have to write that on every chapter or is it enough to write it on the first one?)**

* * *

I finally packed the last of Gina's two hundred and ninety five books neatly into the last of the eleven plastic boxes. Gina slapped my hands away to close it in _her_ way. My way wasn't good enough for her.

"What are you going to read now?" I asked, standing up. I looked at the boxes propped full of the books that had been lying over Gina's already messy floor. She loved her books. Reading was all she did in her free time.

"That's not all of it," she assured me. I raised one eyebrow. "There's more in the closet. The ones I like are in the closet, these ones are the ones I've read a thousand times," she said. She didn't sound like she was defending herself, only explaining something for an outsider. Her obsession for reading made perfect sense for her, it was everybody else who was crazy.

"Whatever. I need to get home," I said after throwing a glance at the clock on the wall in Gina's blue room. I hadn't realized how late it had gotten.

"Sure. I owe you one," Gina said, before she yanked me to her for a hug. I hugged her back hesitantly. I had never been the one for hugs. Gina and Alex used to tease me with saying I had constant PSI. Personal Space Issues, whatever that meant.

"You owe me many," I said, as this was routine for us. Gina just shrugged. She followed me to the door, and just when I was about to step out in the night, she seemed to remember to ask me something I'd been praying all day for that she had forgotten.

"How's it going with Jared?" she asked.

"Same," I muttered. With "same" I meant that I was killing myself with staying away from the idiot, and still trying to make my heart see that I could do better. It used to answer me the same every time; _Hah!_

"'Kay. Be brave, Kimmy," she said with a smile, and closed the door in my face before I could protest on the nickname. I gritted my teeth and started walking.

It was dark and wet outside. I dragged my hood over my hair and tightened it around my shivering body. If I knew it was so cold out, I would have worn a thicker sweater.

I had barely managed to escape from spending my Saturday with Alex and _Cameron_. I still wanted to grimace every time I thought his name. I'd called Gina at once, pleading into the phone that she for some miraculous reason needed me to be with her today. And she didn't let me down. Apparently, Alex had already talked to Gina, and she'd avoided it by saying she had some tidying and cleaning to do in the house today. And _unfortunately_ (for Alex)_,_ she needed my help.

Alex's relationship with Cameron (ugh) had lasted for almost two weeks now. It was almost a record. Maybe I should congratulate her, I mused, entertaining myself with meaningless and silly thoughts about a big ceremony with cheering people and a huge, _yellow_ price with Alex's name on it.

The fantasies almost made me forget that I was outside alone in the dark night. There was no one to see, and I half-expected an ax-murderer to jump out of the shadows and chop me into pieces while laughing hysterically.

_Jeez, overdramatize much?_ I asked myself.

_It's what I do best,_ I answered myself. Whoh, I was definitely going crazy.

Then I heard something behind me. I stopped walking, because my feet wouldn't move. I should and wanted to run for my dear life, but that just wasn't possible at the time. Instead my traitorous feet turned me slowly around.

First I could see nothing in the dark. Then a huge figure appeared, walking towards me. I hopelessly tried to make my feet move me away from the danger I was sure I was staring right into the eyes of right now, but of course they wouldn't listen. A startled gasp escaped my lips, for I didn't manage to produce a scream.

The familiar voice that came from the figure startled me.

"Kim," it said. He didn't say it as a question; as if he wasn't sure it was me. No, he said it in a wary but hard way, and I couldn't make out what he meant with it. So I just turned my back at Jared and started walking away from him with long, quick strides.

He still caught up with me faster than I could comprehend.

"What are you doing out alone?" he asked me. _None of your business!_ I didn't say anything, just ignored him. He waited for a few seconds before he said something again.

"You shouldn't be out so late, especially not alone," he said. He paused for me to answer, but as soon as he realized I wasn't going to, he stepped in front of me to block my way. I tried to walk around him, but he stopped me by grabbing my arm. I glared at his hand, hoping to burn a hole in it.

"Please," Jared started. "Just _please_ listen to me," he pleaded. I still didn't look at his face. A plan started forming in my head. If he just loosened his grip a little, maybe if he thought I wouldn't try and break free, then I could escape. Because I seriously didn't want to listen to his poor rehearsed apologies.

Jared seemed to take my silence as an invite to speak. He cleared his throat hastily.

"I just wanted to tell you that I didn't leave the other day because I wanted to. I really wanted to stay, but I couldn't." he said. That's it? That wasn't much of an apology.

"Why?" I asked angrily.

"I…" he started, but stopped mid-sentence. I spun out of his grip as he now seemed distracted by something, and started walking again. I didn't get very far though, before he suddenly was in front of me. I gasped in surprise for his sudden appearance.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," he said apologetically.

_Then move_!

I hissed at him, not bothering to waste my words for this… this… I couldn't find a name that didn't involve swearing, and I'd made a promise to myself not to use those kinds of words. Not even in my mind.

"I can't tell you why, not yet," Jared said, and now he sounded annoyed. I moved to walk around him again, and this time he gripped both my shoulders to hold me still. He bent down so his face was almost in the same height as mine. I tried to step away from him, but he was ridiculously strong.

"But just please – _please_ – believe me when I say that I would never hurt you," he said sincerely, and for one wild moment I almost believed him.

_Get real, Kim_, I told myself. My eyes had their own definition of _real_. Before I could stop it, the tears started welling up. I was horrified at myself. Why cry? And now, of all times?

_I said get real, not get weepy!_

The crying made me even more desperate to get away. I tried to kick after him, but my feet only hit air. I started panicking in his arms, struggling with all my strength to get free. Then he let go of me.

My own weight made me knees buckle under me, but I started running at once. He didn't stop me again, and I ran uninterrupted all the way home. I managed to get to my room without mum or Gretchen seeing my tear wet face, and then I climbed right into my bed. I clutched the pillow to my chest as I tried to slow my breathing.

I realized as I calmed down that this was another stupid reaction. I was overreacting to everything these days.

But now I was even more determined to stay away from Jared. I didn't know what he was trying to do, just playing with me? Trying to make a fool out of me or something?

Well, it wouldn't work.

No matter how many fake excuses and apologies he came up with, I wouldn't buy it.

Good plan.

* * *

**So that was chapter five. **

**I'm not so very sure if this is good or not... It's just something, I can't point it out... **

**Well, I held this back too long, I've actually had it ready for days now. And today I just had to let it out, because this seems to be the day to let things out for me. **

**Serioulsy, I let a friend dye my hair, had a test where I let out everything I think is wrong about cloning humans and _almost_ tackled this guy to the ground. He didn't want to turn down te music, he was playing Hannah Montana just to annoy me. **

**But my hair turned out pretty cute, though... **

**Okay, I'm babbling about very uninteresting things. **

**Sorry. **


	6. A nice day at the mall

**

* * *

**

Um... I don't own anything... I'm feeling kind of stupid writing this on top of every chapter. Is that really necessary, or can I just drop it now?

_

* * *

_

_Someone, kill me now, _I thought as mum handed me another pile of clothes through her changing room door, being almost serious. I mean, is there anything more humiliating than being with your mum in the mall? I'd already been spotted twice. The first time it was two girls who were a year younger than me, and they bent their heads together and started whispering urgently. And then there was the group of "popular" kids, who didn't whisper. They just looked at me with their stuck-up and arrogant glances and snickered loudly.

Ugh, could this day get any worse?

_You haven't bumped into Jared,_ I reminded myself. _Yet_.

"What do you think, Kimmy?" mum said as she came out of the changing room, wearing an ugly green jumper over a pair of too tight black jeans. I frowned over the nickname, but I'd given up trying to get her off using it.

"Great, you should buy it," I encouraged half-heartedly. _Just let me get out of here!_

What had she told me?

"_We need to buy some flowers for your grandmother's birthday. She's turning eighty, you know."_

Flowers were okay. The flower shop wasn't really inside of the mall, it was its own building. And I needed to get out.

Ten minutes later…

"_I have to buy milk. We're empty._"

Okay, I could live with that. Fast in, fast out.

However, five minutes later…

"_Oh! I completely forgot, I need a new outfit for this really important meeting I'm having tomorrow! Will you help me pick it out?_"

Yeah, so that was why I was here. I swear, my mum could be more manipulating than Gina sometimes. And that is saying something.

"I'm not so sure," mum said, pulling me back to reality. Okay, I really _had_ to get out of here.

"Um, mum?" I started. "I just remembered that I have to get Alex a present for her birthday," I lied smoothly. Mum looked at me suspiciously.

"Alex's birthday?"

Oh crap. She knew it wasn't soon.

"Yeah, best to get started early," I said, sounding completely ridiculous. Early, as in three months early?

"Okay," mum miraculously said. I dropped the clothes I had in my arms, ignoring the seller's unhappy complaints as I spurted out of the store.

I stopped as soon as I was out of sight, and headed for my favorite store. A little shop where they sold things like make-up, cheap jewelry and sunglasses. I found my way to the sunglasses at once.

I tried on about every one of them, until I saw someone I really didn't want to see in the mirror.

Ew. _Cameron_.

Acting on impulses, I jumped behind the racks, gliding down to the floor. I crumpled in so no one could see me. Or that's what I thought.

Suddenly the tall, icky guy stood over me, grinning.

"Hey, Kim," he said, not seeming to find my position weird at all. Well, I guess that shouldn't surprise me.

"Hey," I said, not moving.

"What are you doing?" he asked, leaning to one of the racks which held the sunglasses. It started falling, and he steadied it urgently. I stifled a laugh.

"You know. Hanging out," I said from the floor.

"'Kay," he grinned again.

I grimaced. For some reason, this result of Alex's bad judgment – Cameron – thought of us two as friends. I just couldn't see how he thought that. I had been nothing but cold and unwelcoming towards him from the start, hoping he'd get the picture. He'd gotten it, but obviously he had the talent of reversing pictures.

I stood up again and sneaked around him.

_Please don't follow me,_ I pleaded in my mind. It didn't work. I heard his footsteps behind me as he walked after me.

_Thanks a lot!_ I thought angrily to no one particularly. I mean, I already knew that no one "up there" loved me very much, but would they risk pushing my limits like this? I could snap and hurt the poor guy behind me.

Maybe they were just as irritated with him as me, and _wanted_ me to snap. Hm. Interesting theory…

"What are you doing here?" said Cameron's cheery voice. He stepped up next to me.

"Buying some things," I said. Woah, was I embarrassed to tell Cameron I was here with mum? I guess, but, like I said, walking around with your mum in publicity is really social suicide.

Not that walking around with Cameron was much better. I just had to find an escape.

"Me too," he said, grinning even wider.

Bathroom?

No. Too obvious.

"I haven't seen you in days," Cameron noted. _Well, duh_.

"I guess not,"

Run for it?

No, that would look stupid.

"Maybe we could hang out some time?" he asked. _Or maybe not_?

"Sure," I said absently.

Get a "phone call" about some "crisis"?

Hah, like I was a good enough actress to pull _that_ off.

"Where are you going now?"

_To buy tampons_. Well, it would make him leave…

"Nowhere," I said. Not a smart thing to say.

"Wanna go eat something?" he asked. _Not if I had the choice between that and starving myself to death!_

"Not now, I need to get home," I said.

"Want a ride?"

Geez, this guy was annoying.

"No, that's okay," I assured him. We'd been walking aimlessly, and were now in an emptier part of the mall.

"Um… aren't you going anywhere?" I asked. Maybe he'd forgotten that he had to be somewhere. Maybe he would leave me alone after all.

"No," he simply said. Just my luck.

"Well, I am," I decided. I spun around to go the opposite direction, when he surprised me by placing his clammy hand on my arm to stop me. I froze and was about to tell him to let go, but a familiar voice surprisingly close spoke up.

"Take your hands off of her," it said simply. Cameron pulled his hand back quickly, looking startled up at the huge figure that was Jared.

_This day just _can't_ get any better, can it?_ I asked myself sarcastically. I stepped away from them both. Cameron backed away from Jared, looking scared stiff. When he thought he'd put enough space between himself and the giant, he turned around and hurried away.

I watched him in sort of a daze, and then I turned my furious glare at Jared, whom I found already staring at me.

When he didn't say anything, I figured I'd try and leave. _Then_ he reacted.

He placed a huge, warm hand on my arm and pushed me gently back in place. I growled silently. I should have known he wouldn't let me leave.

"What now?" I said, my voice sounding softer than I'd intended. Jared's face was constrained and twisted, but his eyes were warmer when he looked at me.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yes," I said rigidly. I took a mini step backwards, too small for him to notice. It felt kind of strange to stand next to such a huge guy. I hadn't really noticed before now just _how_ enormous he was.

"Who is that guy?" Jared asked. Now his eyes darkened too.

"Alex's boyfriend," I said in a cold voice.

"Why did he…" Jared started.

"We were just talking, Jared," I said through clenched teeth.

Jared locked his jaw. I couldn't read his emotions.

"What do you want?" I asked. He relaxed a bit again. I _really_ couldn't guess what this guy was thinking. His reactions were almost as weird as mine. "And don't you dare try to give me another one of those _apologies_ of yours," I warned. His eyes turned sad now.

Acting, no doubt.

He was probably acting all the time, trying to make me believe he cared about me. Though I had to give him some credit for being as persevering as he was. If this was just some kind of bet he wanted to win, he sure was putting a lot of effort into it.

Jared said nothing, just kept staring at me. I sighed and spun out of his hold.

"I have to go," I said fast, before he could catch me again. "My mum's waiting."

Jared pressed his lips together, but didn't say anything.

_Open your mouth and speak, you idiot!_ I felt an urge to shout. It was impossible to see what he was thinking, and it was driving me crazy.

I turned my back at him and walked away uninterrupted. I thought.

But then strong hand took my upper arms and spun me around. I didn't even have time to protest.

"Kim, I'm a werewolf," he said.

I stared at him in confusion. What was he saying?

"What?" I asked blankly.

"I. Am. A. Werewolf," he said warily.

I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing. I laughed so hard it hurt my stomach, and I twisted in his arms in pain. I laughed till the tears streamed down my cheeks.

"Wh… what?" I pressed out through my gasps of laughter.

"You don't believe me," he said softly. That only made me laugh even harder. He studied me for a while with an inscrutable expression written all over his face. Then it turned into determination.

"I'll show you," he said. His voice now had an edge of eagerness in it. He let go of me for only a second, then he took my arm and started dragging me to the exit. That put a stop for my laughing. I looked around in panic, but there was no one close enough to see us.

I tried to hold myself back, digging my heels into the floor.

"Jared, stop," I ordered, but he didn't listen. I jumped after the door, trying to hold myself back. Jared dragged me off of it with more ease than Gina and Alex had when they forced me to let go of the classroom door to get me to English-class. His strength startled me, and I was panicking even more.

"Let go," I tried, tugging my arm helplessly. When he didn't respond to either my struggling or my words, I gathered enough air to build up a loud scream. It didn't become more than a small yelp before Jared's hand was suddenly clasped over my mouth. My scream was muffled by his hand, but that didn't mean I gave up.

I kicked after him like I'd done a few days ago, but he dodged it. Then he turned me again and dragged me up from the ground, holding me forcefully against his body.

I froze for a moment in shock, but as he started walking with me this way, I protested again.

He didn't seem to notice my struggles at all. I was only vaguely aware of where we were going, but soon I saw trees and wilderness around us. Jared set me to my feet again. I spun around to look at him furiously.

"What are you _doing_?" I demanded angrily. My eyes fluttered around me to find a way back to civilization, but I couldn't find anything promising.

"I'm sorry," Jared said, and this time it seemed like he really meant it.

_No!_ I thought. _Focus, Kim. Don't believe anything he says_.

Jared laid his hands on my shoulders. They felt extremely warm, even out here. I tried to shrug them off, but he didn't budge.

"I'm sorry," he repeated. "But you need to see this," he said, and with that he let go of me. I stared after him as he hopped away from me, into the bushes.

What, was this his way of playing with me? Leaving me in here so I couldn't find my way out? I huffed angrily, and was about to head to the direction I thought we'd come from.

But something caught my eye. I looked at where Jared had disappeared, and gasped in shock. Because there was no Jared there anymore. There was a huge, bear-sized wolf looking animal standing there, looking with me with wide, inviting eyes.

Millions of thoughts raced through my mind at once. The strongest and most egoistic one was; I'm going to die.

This monster would kill me, here and now, and I wouldn't even be able to say goodbye to anyone. I swallowed loudly, trying to think of a way to escape. Surely we must have learned something about what we should do if we ran into animals in the woods?

But I couldn't recall anything now. My mind went blank.

The monster took a step closer to me, and my fright overtook me.

Everything went black and the ground flew towards my face. The last thing I heard before unconsciousness took me, was a high, agonized howl.

* * *

**This chapter was fast to write...**

**It turned out very different from what I'd thoughts, but I _think_ I like it. **

**Anywayzzzzzz, tell me what _you_ think, and I'll love you forever and ever. **

**Seriously. **

**I'm good at loving people. **


	7. Dreamzzz

**Here goes chapter seven!**

**I still don't own anything, even though I wish I did...**

* * *

I was shaking. Or rather _being_ shook. Up and down. I felt the ground touch my back, but not hard. It felt like everything inside of me was rumbling up and down, making me even sicker than I already was.

My eyes opened as a result of the shaking, and I focused them to see what was happening. I couldn't see right in the dark, but I became aware of the unusually warm hands on my arms. The owner was most likely the one who shook me.

My ears began working again too, and I heard a voice desperately saying my name over and over again. I groaned to show that I was alive, and the shaking stopped for a bit.

I narrowed my eyes, and saw a familiar face only inches from mine, examining my face.

"Jared," I croaked out, and he let out a relieved sigh. I was crushed to his body. He held me so close that I had difficulties breathing, and my strangled sound made him let me go at once. He supported my back so I didn't fall flat to the ground.

I sat there trying to compose myself, and the memories started to drift back to my mind. I gasped as I remembered the wolf.

"Where's the wolf?" I almost whispered, frantically looking around myself. "Did you kill it?" I blurted out without thinking about it.

_Did you _kill_ it? Really, Kim._

Jared looked me straight into the eyes and said in a sincere voice;

"_I_ was the wolf, Kim," he said slowly, as if he wanted to make sure I caught every word. Confusion washed over me again, but I remembered him saying something about that before. Werewolf, wasn't that what he'd said?

Maybe I was dreaming. Maybe I wasn't really awake yet. Or had I just imagined it?

"What?" I asked, trying to sound as polite as possible.

"I'm a werewolf," Jared said. He had said werewolf, hadn't he?

Well, that set it.

I was dreaming.

I bit my lip and waited patiently to wake up in my bed. I wondered how long it would take. Maybe the dream wasn't over just yet. Usually you woke up when you were running away from something, or falling off a cliff. Was I supposed to run away from Jared? I didn't think I could. My legs wouldn't be able to hold my weight.

Jared studied me where I sat. None of us said anything, and I could see he was growing tired of the silence. After a while he sighed.

"What are you thinking?" he asked. I think I read in a book that you're not supposed to talk to people in your dreams. I could have seen it in a movie too, but I couldn't recall which one. And I had no idea why you shouldn't either, but I kept my mouth shut, just in case.

Dream-Jared became frustrated by my silence, and dropped his head even closer to my face.

"Kim?" he asked, worry slipping into his voice. I looked at him with an empty expression, still waiting to wake up. Jared shook my shoulder a bit to get an answer, but I didn't give him one. I waited for a while longer, and then I grew impatient too.

"Hi," I said at last. A part of my mind told me that this was a weird thing to say in this situation, but if this was a dream, things didn't have to make sense, right?

Jared's expression turned even more worried.

"Kim, are you okay?" he asked.

"No," I said honestly. "I'm confused." His face hardened a bit.

"I know. I'm sorry," he said.

"It's not your fault," I assured him. Now he was confused too.

"Isn't it?" he asked in an uncertain voice.

"No. You can't help it that I won't wake up," I said. Jared frowned. He bit his lip in a thoughtful and unsure grimace. He seemed to be looking for the right words.

"You're not sleeping," he said. I smiled. That's what he _wanted_ me to believe. My dream-Jared was pretty clever. I didn't say anything, though. Jared sighed. "You still don't believe me, do you?" he asked sourly. I didn't know what to say on that one, so again I chose to keep quiet.

"What can I do to make you believe me, then?" Jared asked politely. I thought about that. What would be a clever answer to that one…

"Pinch me," I suggested, lifting my arm. Jared hesitated for a second, then nipped my skin lightly.

"OW!" I exclaimed, dragging my arm to me. It really didn't hurt that much, but it had surprised me. I thought you weren't supposed to feel pain in dreams! I'd never tried it out, though.

"God, Kim, are you okay?" Jared asked hastily with a concerned voice. I didn't answer, because I was busy with going though the possibilities in my head. So, if this wasn't a dream, what had really happened? The wolf, that had to be real. It was too scary to be my imagination. I still didn't know where it had gone, and I doubted that Jared could have scared it away. He was only a boy, after all. Then there was Jared insisting on being a werewolf… Maybe just _that_ one had been a dream.

"What did you say happened to the wolf?" I whispered. I could feel my eyes were wide with fright and my whole body was quivering.

"Are you okay?" Jared asked, ignoring my question.

"The wolf, Jared," I said again, my voice a little louder.

"Does it hurt anywhere? Did you hurt your head?" he continued babbling.

"Where's the wolf?" I said, growing annoyed with Jared ignoring me.

"Can you feel this?" Jared asked and touched my hand. I pulled it free.

"I'm not hurt, Jared. The wolf…"

"Can you tell me what date it is, Kim?"

"I'm not having a concussion, Jared," I said in an acid voice. He didn't look like he believed me, and he studied me with worried eyes. "What did you say about the wolf?" I asked once again. This time he seemed to get what I was talking about. His whole body stiffened again, and he looked at me with honest eyes.

"I was the wolf. I'm a werewolf."

I searched his face to see if I could find any sign of him lying. I couldn't. He looked completely sincere and serious. I felt my breath quicken, and as if on a cue Jared turned worried again. He reached out for me.

"I'm fine!" I snapped. He dropped his hands slowly, still staring at me. This _had_ to be a dream. For now I couldn't see any other option than that Jared really _was_ a werewolf, and it would be really silly to actually _believe_ that.

But as I looked up in his sincere eyes, I couldn't help it but to believe him.

"Werewolf?" I breathed.

"Yes." Jared hesitated for a second. "You've heard our legends, right? Well, they're sort of true."

I closed my eyes, bit my lip and swallowed, debating with myself whether my voice would bear or not if I spoke now. When I was pretty sure it would, I opened my eyes again.

"So you were the wolf?" I asked. I was feeling like a complete idiot now. He'd said that already.

"Yes," Jared said in a wary voice.

"Show me," I demanded. The words were out before I could stop them, but I didn't take them back. Jared started studying me again, and I understood that he wasn't going to show me anything.

"I should take you to the doctor," he decided.

"No, you shouldn't," I said calmly. "Not before you show me." Jared surprised me with grinning at me.

"I don't think I ought to show you _now_. You've just fainted," he noted.

"Because you surprised me," I argued. "Show me!" I repeated angrily.

"Not until the doctor takes a look at you," he insisted.

"I'm _fine_!" I hissed annoyed.

"You hit your head. You wouldn't know."

"I _did not_ it my head!" I said stubbornly.

"You did," he said calmly. He stood up and bent down to slide his hands under me. I protested loudly when he lifted me from the ground.

"I can walk!" I shouted at him and tried to push his arms away. They didn't budge, and I hadn't really expected them to either.

"I'm not so sure you can," he said in a cheery voice. I huffed and crossed my arms. Jared was almost running though the woods, leaping elegantly over every little root, dodging every tree and ducking under every branch. It was a good thing I hadn't tried to find the way back on my own. I would have gotten lost in about three seconds.

Jared carried me though the mall despite me ordering him to put me down. This was almost as embarrassing as it had been walking here with mum, and people was staring and whispering as they saw us.

I directed Jared to the shop where I'd left mum, and we arrived just when she came out of it, carrying three full bags. She dropped all three of them when she saw us.

"Kim!" she gasped, looking me up and down.

"I'm fine, mum," I said, wondering why everyone thought I was injured. I didn't look like I was, did I? I let my gaze follow my body, and found that my clothes were dirty and even holey some places. Wow. How could I talk my way out of this one?

_I was looking for a present for Alex in the forest. _

That one was almost funny.

_I fell and rolled right out of the mall and into the woods_.

Where did _that_ come from?

_This is the new trend!_

Seriously, I was getting pretty bad at making up excuses.

"What happened?" mum asked while she gathered her bags, never taking her eyes of me. I delayed answering by turning my head to Jared.

"You can put me down now," I said. He did, slowly, but kept a hand on my back as if he was afraid I would fall over if he didn't. I decided to ignore it for now.

_I wanted to go for a little hike._

No.

_The wind blew in some dirt and it hit me_.

Ridiculous!

Perhaps I should tell her the truth?

But how could I do that?

I peeked up at Jared, and he looked down at me apologetically. He didn't seem to have a good story either. But I didn't want to put the blame on him, because then I couldn't see him later. How was I supposed to explain to mum that he'd dragged me forcefully me into the woods where he'd turned into a wolf and made me faint, but that I really wanted to see him again?

I realized as I thought about it that I really _did_ want to see him again. All my anger towards him had suddenly just vanished, or was at least reduced. I was still pretty annoyed with him, for no apparent reason. And I was very, _very_ curious.

"Kim?" mum said, pulling be back to reality.

"Huh?" I said dumbly.

"What happened to you, sweetie?" mum said and dragged a leaf out of my hair. I frowned at that, wondering if all of my hair was filled with remains from the forest.

"Um… well, I ran into the forest," I lied. Where was I going with _this_?

My mum laughed a small laugh. It had a hysterical edge to it.

"Why?" she asked.

"I… um… saw a dog." I said.

Wait. What did I just say?

"A dog?" mum said skeptically.

"Yeah," I said hesitantly. I looked up at Jared again, and he looked just as surprised as mum. "It barked at me," I added. "And I got scared, so I ran… into the forest. And Jared found me."

Well, that was definitely the worst excuse I'd ever made, but it would have to work for now. There was this tiny little detail that I'd never been afraid of dogs, but I could say it had just been recently.

Mum looked up at Jared for a confirmation.

He composed his expression and nodded hastily.

"Well, are you hurt?" mum asked me. I rolled my eyes.

"No," I said.

"I think she hit her head," said Jared seriously. I turned to glare at him, and he stared back.

"I did not!" I insisted.

"Are you sure, Kimmy?" mum said.

"Yes, and don't call me that!" I burst out in a frustrated voice. I saw that Jared was about to protest, so I turned to him with a warning glare. "Don't you dare argue with me," I said in a firm voice. He pressed his lips together and looked at me disapprovingly.

An awkward silence followed, and then mum cleared her throat and asked if I was ready to get home.

"Sure. Go ahead, I'll be right there," I said. Mum mumbled something, but I wasn't interested enough to make an effort to hear what it was. Jared looked like he was fighting a smile.

"You're coming over tomorrow," I told Jared when mum had walked away from us. Now his suppressed smile spread out to a wide grin.

"Oh?" he asked, his eyes twinkling.

"Yeah. You are going to show me. And you've got a lot of explaining to do," I informed him before I turned my back at him.

For once he let me walk away from him.

I couldn't help it but think about him in the car ride home. Whatever I tried to occupy myself with, my thoughts always drifted back to the tall, muscular, _gorgeous_ guy that was Jared. Butterflies started to swarm around in my stomach as I thought about him coming over in the morning.

This confused me. _I_ confused me. Wasn't I supposed to be furious with Jared? And now I was acting like a teenager having her first crush.

_Well, duh, because you _are_?_

Huh.

I _was_ a teenager having her first crush. I hadn't thought of it that way before. I shrugged and started pacing back and forward in my mini room.

So, why wasn't I angry with Jared anymore?

_Because I'm Kim_, my mind sang to me. _And Kim just never seems to be able to stick to a decision_.

Ugh.

Not again.

Being me wasn't easy.

Well, okay, I could let myself be a teenage girl and be head-over-heels in love with a guy, but I had to have limitations. Like, maybe wait till after he showed me he was a werewolf to make further decisions?

I shivered as I thought of Jared being a werewolf. My mind had automatically accepted this before I thought it through. It sounded very unlikely now. What if he was just playing with me, after all? What if this was some kind of stunt to humiliate me?

Taking this into account, I couldn't show any sign of believing him until it was proved true or untrue. If it was a lie, I would just avoid and ignore him again. It had worked before (sort of), so it could work again.

If, hypothetically of course, it turned out to be true…

Well, I would think of that later.

* * *

**So, what do you think? **

**Please, _please _leave a review! I need some cheering up, I'm sneeking out tonight, and I'm dead tired. Maybe a few nice words would lighten my mood for later. because I really don't want my friends to be annoyed by my lack of enthusiasm. **

**Okay, that was kind of uninteresting... I have this thing where I write very uninteresting things as ANs... Well, I doubt that anyone actually reads them very closely anywayzz...**

**Oh, juts one more thing: **

**Look how long this chapter is! **

**I'm extremely proud!**


	8. Editing!

**So, here comes chapter... eight. Wow, this turned out longer than I thought!**

**I don't own anything!**

**Oh, wait, I own my new lamp! It's green...**

* * *

I was _almost_ sure it had all been a dream. I mean, it didn't seem real, or sound real, and everything was blurred like dreams often were.

But my dirty clothes were a proof that at least _some_ of it was real. And the clinging sound of the door bell was another one. _He_ was here. I ran through the empty house (dad was at work, mum had taken Gretchen out) and almost forgot to stop before I hit the door. I yanked it open.

Even though I already knew who would be behind it, I jumped slightly when I saw Jared's huge figure. He smiled hesitantly down at me. I stifled my smile, remembering that I couldn't show _any_ emotions. Not yet.

"Hi," I said, letting out a breath I hadn't realize I'd been holding back.

"Hey," Jared answered. He paused for a minute before he spoke again. "So… um. Did you want me to show you now, or…"

"Sure," I said nonchalantly.

"We should go into the forest, I think. So no one sees us," he explained. I nodded and wriggled my feet into my sneakers. Then I walked past Jared and shut the door behind me, not bothering to lock it.

He led the way to the trees close to my house. I followed him a little into the forest, till the wilderness covered us completely. Then he stopped and turned to me.

"Wait here," he told me, and then he disappeared behind some bushes.

I was beginning to feel that this just was a trick. Maybe he wanted to see how long I waited here before I walked away. Maybe there was a whole bunch of people there, and they would start laughing at me because I believed Jared when he served ridiculous lies about werewolves…

I gasped when the huge brown monster from yesterday stepped elegantly out from where Jared had disappeared. It stood steady like a statue; the only thing moving on it was its fur when the weak wind grabbed it. I swallowed and stood frozen for many seconds.

"Jared?" I pressed out. The animal moved its head as if it was nodding. I tried to slow my frantic breathing and forced my legs to move me a step forward. I wanted to touch him. Maybe it wouldn't be that scary if I got to feel it, to know it was real.

The wolf-looking creature came closer to me too, and soon I had one hand on its fur. I held my breath as I let it slide over it on the side of his head.

"Can you talk?" I asked. The wolf shook its head. "Oh," I answered. I dragged my hand back, because I felt slightly uncomfortable with the huge animal in front of me. "Can you go back to be Jared again?" I asked in a weak voice. The wolf turned and hopped into the bushes again. Soon after Jared stepped out, dragging his shirt over his head.

"Are you okay?" he asked me. I nodded in silence. He didn't believe me. He took my shoulders just when I was about to collapse, and steered me to a rock. He pushed me gently down on it, and I obediently sat down.

"It's okay," I said brushing my hair out of my face. Jared moved his unnaturally big hand to push away one strand of hair I'd missed. I blushed lightly.

"Are you sure?" he asked softly.

"Yes." I hesitated. "So… you really _are_ a werewolf?" I asked. Jared smiled.

"You didn't believe me?"

"Would you?"

"Probably not," he admitted. None of us said anything for a few seconds, and the silence was getting to him again.

"What are you thinking?" he asked impatiently.

"Just that this is… very strange?" I said. He looked at me, waiting for more. I sighed. "It's just over the top, you know? It's not something I could have imagined or thought of, and if I _had_ thought of it, then this would seem even more unreal. I mean, werewolf… that's so… I don't know, but it isn't something you expect to find next to you in English class. And even weirder that you are here now, because I always used to look at you and think…"

Wait. What was I saying? Horrified at myself I trailed off and looked at the ground. I'd almost told him everything about how much in love with him I had been, and that _definitely_ wasn't something he needed to know.

But Jared wouldn't let it go like that.

"Thinking what?" he asked in an eager voice. I could almost hear his hopeful smile. I just shook my head without looking at him. He wouldn't allow that, and I felt a warm finger under my chin. He lifted my head up so I had to look at him. I considered closing my eyes stubbornly, but found that it would only look childish. So instead I glared into his dark eyes hoping he was the one to look away first.

"Thinking what?" he repeated. _Fine, I'll lose,_ I thought and attempted to yank my chin out of his hold. It was impossible. "_Please_ tell me?" he pleaded and looked at me with huge, adorable eyes.

"No," I said weakly. He stared at me for a little while longer, then sighed.

"You are driving me crazy," he said. He sounded like he was admitting a great humility of his, so I just gave him a small smile. "Won't you _please_ tell me?" he tried again. I pressed my lips together.

Jared abruptly let go of my chin and turned his body a little away from me. He crossed his arms and bit his lip.

"Then I won't tell you anything either," he said in a stubborn voice. A depressed feeling washed over me as I understood that I'd made him mad. I was panicking, going through my mind to find something to make it up to him. I didn't find anything, just the same type of ridiculous solutions I'd found when I was explaining to mum about my dirty and holey clothes yesterday.

I was about to crack when I saw the mischievous shimmer in his eyes.

Idiot.

Well, two can play that game.

"Fine. I'll go then." I said. A shocked little gasp escaped Jared's lips as I got up. He stopped me before I finished my first step away from him.

"I was kidding!" he said in a desperate voice. I turned to face him, and couldn't hold back my smile when I saw his panicky face. It was soon replaced with realization that I'd been kidding too. "Brat," he muttered and dragged me closer by the arm to ruffle my hair.

I let out a very girlish giggle, and his whole face lightened up.

I suddenly saw how cute he was. I mean, I've seen that for the past eternity, since I've been hopelessly in love with him and everything, but now I _really_ saw it. I almost forgot how to breathe when his smile grew wider and his eyes twinkled at me. How could I ever have forgotten how absolutely gorgeous this boy – or maybe man – was?

"Will you tell me now?" Jared asked, and my happy moods vanished. I felt my face fall and I bit my lip.

"No," I said, trying to sound firm. Jared sighed. His smile was gone too, to my desperation. Give me back my smile!

"Pleeeeeeeeease?" Jared pleaded. I shook my head stubbornly. "What can I do to make you tell me?" he asked. I didn't really think about it. I simply blurted out the first thing that came to my mind.

"Tell me about this werewolf-thing," I demanded.

"Will you tell me what you were thinking, then?"

"Sure," I lied. I didn't like to lie, but I'd find my way out of this later. No way was he going to know everything about me being so devoted to him that I stalked and spied on him.

"What do you want to know?" he asked, eager again. He steered me back to the rock I'd been sitting on before, and sat next to me. Then he stared at me with open, waiting eyes. I smiled.

"I want to know everything. But first, how can you turn into a wolf when it's not full moon?"

_Stupid question, Kim_, my mind screamed at me.

_Why_?

_God, you're not talking to yourself again, are you?_

I was really going crazy, wasn't I?

_First sign of madness; talking to your own head_.

I shrugged it off, and saw that Jared had already started talking.

"Well, the Hollywood-version isn't very correct," he laughed. "And we're not really werewolves, I think. It's just easier to call us that, but we are really shape-shifters. I can phase whenever I want," Jared grinned.

"Do you have to be bitten to become a werew… shape-shifter?" Jared laughed.

"No, you don't have to be _bitten_. That's the bloods… Hollywood-version," he corrected himself. I frowned, but didn't say anything. "And you can call us werewolves, we do."

"So if you bit me now, nothing would happen?" I asked.

"I think I would hurt you pretty bad, but other than that, no," Jared grinned again. Then I suddenly reacted to what he'd said.

"Wait. _We_ do?" I asked sharper than I'd intended. Jared's eyes flickered.

"Yeah. I'm not the only werewolf," he explained.

"Oh," I answered. "Who else is?"

"I don't think you know them," Jared said, and I clearly saw that he was trying to avoid the subject. I raised my brow.

"Try me," I said.

"You don't know them," he said again as if that was the end of that discussion. I narrowed my eyes at him. I wasn't going to forget that, but went on with my next question for now.

"How do you become a werewolf, then?"

"Genes," he simply said. I waited for something more informative, but Jared just stared at me. _He_ was waiting for my next question.

"Ok. What do you do when you're a werewolf?"

"Not much. Run along the borders of La Push. It's sort of our job to protect the tribe," he said with a husky laugh. God, I loved the way he laughed.

"From what?"

He looked unwilling to answer again. He twisted his lips and answered shortly:

"Nothing special."

I crossed my arms.

"This isn't going to work if you don't answer me properly," I said in a matter-of-factly voice. He looked worried now, and I knew why. He was dying to know what I was thinking that I refused to tell him, and was afraid I'd take it back.

"What?" he asked anyway.

"You won't answer me correctly!"

"I do," he insisted.

"You leave things out," I accused. Jared pressed his lips together, but didn't say anything. "If you don't tell me everything, I won't tell you what I was thinking…"

"You can't back out!" he said, sounding like a child. "That's not fair!"

"Is too," I muttered.

"No, it isn't!" he said, starting to sound desperate. I almost laughed. This was so entertaining! I would have to play unfair with him again some other time.

"Yes it is. You have to answer properly, that's part of the deal," I told him with a little smile.

"But…" he started, but I cut him off.

"Why _did_ you leave me that day?" I asked. Now his expression turned soft but pained. I resisted the urge to stretch my hand out to stroke his hair and sooth him.

"I really, _really_ didn't want to, you believe that, right?" he asked, sounding very intense. I nodded. "I had to go, but it killed me to do it. Sa… the other guys said I had to come because there was some… thing they had to tell me," he said. I didn't fail to notice that he corrected himself twice in only that one sentence.

"You're editing!" I interrupted him, but he simply put a finger over my mouth, signaling for me to be quiet.

"You _have_ to believe me when I say that I didn't want to leave. Please. Do. But I didn't have time to talk to you before I left, I had to hurry, and I was going to explain the next day. But then you were pissed at me, and I can't really blame you. You were in your right to be angry with me, though I wish you'd listened to me earlier. I was kind of off for a few weeks, and people were getting pretty annoyed with me. And…" His talking sounded more and more as nervous babbling as he spoke, so now _I_ placed a finger over _his_ mouth.

"I forgive you," I said. He grabbed my hand to move it away from his lips, but didn't let go of it. He held it in his huge hand making mine look ridiculously little. I moved my eyes from our hands to his face, and found him staring at me with dark, beautiful eyes filled with emotion. I blushed and wanted to look away, but didn't manage.

"Will you tell me now?" he asked in an almost seducing voice.

"No," I said, blushing even more. Jared opened his mouth, probably to persuade me into spilling my guts, but I cut him off before he got to start. "Why did you even want to be with me, in the first place? I mean, you never notice me before," I asked. I had been wondering about this for a while.

"Because… I like you?" he said. He made it sound like a question, so I laughed a little.

"That's not a real answer either," I noted.

"Because you're funny, and smart, and cute, and…"

"Wow, _that_ was original,"

"And you're _very_ adorable when you're sarcastic," he said, and ruffled my hair again. "How about this: I want to be with you because you're Kim," he said as if this was the simplest thing in the world.

"That's not a real answer either," I protested. "_Why_?" Jared chuckled.

"You're not letting this go, are you?" he asked. I shook my head. "Okay. I'll tell you if you tell me what you…"

"I'm not telling you what I was thinking till you give me the real answers to all of _my_ questions," I protested.

"Well, I guess we're not getting anywhere, are we?" Jared said.

"I guess not," I said with a stone face. We stared at each other for a minute, then I cracked.

"_Fine_!" I exclaimed. Jared's face lit up, and he tightened his grip on my hand in excitement. "Fine I'll tell you, but you have to _promise_ –"

"I promise!" he said urgently.

"Okay. So… I was thinking that it was weird because I was… I kind of had a crush on you. And that was a long time before you even knew my name. I don't even think you'd ever seen me before. And now you're _here_. With me. So that's… weird." I finished. I blushed and looked away. Jared didn't say anything, and without a warning I was crushed to his body. He held me so tight I had difficulties breathing. But hey, who's complaining?

"That's nothing to be embarrassed for!" Jared said in my ear, way too loud. I didn't answer, nor could I. "That's a _good_ thing," he assured me, still bellowing into my ear.

"'K… ay," I pressed out. He let go of me at once, and I immediately felt the urge to cling to his shirt and cradle closer to him. But I restrained myself.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Kim," Jared said, looking at me with huge, worried eyes. I rolled my eyes, still feeling embarrassed by my confession and faint from the hug.

"You worry too much," I said, hoping he'd forget about what I'd said. He frowned.

"Do I?" he asked.

"Yes. I'll survive a hug. I liked the hug, actually," I mused. I widened my eyes when I realized that I'd actually spoken the last one out loud, but Jared only smiled. He wrapped his arms around me again, more gently this time, and pulled me into another hug. He dragged me partly onto his lap.

"I'm sorry. I won't worry if it bugs you," he said into my hair. I giggled.

"You're so weird," I said. He paused before he spoke.

"Does that mean that you don't want me?" he asked, sounding concerned again.

"What's up with you and overreactions?" I mumbled. "It doesn't matter to me. Worry if you want to. And you're funny when you're weird, so I'm happy." I wasn't really paying attention to my own words anymore, I was too busy enjoying every minute of this. His unnaturally warm body and calming scent made me almost sleepy, so I closed my eyes and snuggled even closer to him. He responded by tightening his arms around me.

I grew more and more sleepy, and none of us said anything. I was almost in a daze when jared said something again.

"Kim?"

"Hmm?"

"Don't be out alone at night," he said. I think I mm'd an answer, but after that I must have drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**So, that's chapter eight. I _think_ I really like this one. **

**What do you think? **

**I'm open for contructive critisism! **

**I got some reviews about me sneaking out with my friends. Yeah, I'm sort of dead now, so I'm going to bed. We weren't home before like five in the morning, then we went to bed. My parents were kind of curious of why we spent half the day in bed, and I said we had a late night, making my friend spit all of her milk over the breakfast table. **

**Very funny. **

**Good we have a short day tomorrow in school. Though I promised I'd go jogging with another friend of mine... **

**Ugh. **

**I'll be dead tomorrow too. **

**Good night, and review! **

**Oh, and this chapter is also long! I'm getting better at this. **


	9. Weirdo

**Here comes chapter nine, and I don't own anything. Sigh. **

* * *

I woke up on something hard. The ground, I realized after I moved my hand over the surface. I grimaced when I thought of how dirty this would make me. It looked like it still was daytime, because it was light around me and I think I heard birds singing somewhere close.

I tried to get up, but something pinned me down. I looked down over my body to find a huge arm draped over me. I groaned and tried to push it off me, but it wouldn't budge.

_Stupid, inhumanly strong werewolf_, I thought and pushed again. Hopeless.

"Jared?" I said in a low voice. He didn't respond. I looked at his sleeping face and like what I saw. He looked so… I couldn't find a better word than gorgeous, but settled with tat despite the fear of sounding like Alex.

"Hey, Jared!" I said a little louder. He muttered something, but didn't wake up. I filled my lungs with air and bellowed. "JARED!"

Jared jumped to his feet, removing his arm from me at the same time. I took a huge, relieved breath.

"What?" Jared looked down at me with worry in his eyes.

"No worries. You were just crushing me with your unnaturally heavy arm," I said lightly. Jared frowned and then grinned.

"You fell asleep," he teased.

"Look who's talking! I woke up by the sound of your roaring snores!" I lied. Jared snorted.

"I don't snore," he said.

"How would you know?" I asked.

"I just do. You move a lot in your sleep."

"When did that become a crime?"

"When I said so," Jared grinned again. Now _I_ snorted.

"The world doesn't spin around you, you know," I said matter-of-factly.

"It has until now," he said cheery.

"Spoiled brat," I muttered. "Oh, and do you know what you also do in your sleep? You talk."

Now he looked a little surprised.

"I do?"

"Yeah."

"What did I say?"

"Nothing intelligent, as usual." Jared pointed a finger at me and said in a rigid voice:

"Watch it. I might get angry." I laughed.

"Oh, I'm so scared," I mocked. Jared sat down next to me and smiled to me.

"You should be," he said. I was going to answer, but then I got lost in his dark, deep, beautiful eyes. They said that the eyes were the gate to the soul. What did that say about Jared's soul? Beautiful, definitely. Dark might mean mysterious, and he really was. Deep… There's a lot to him. A lot more than you first think. Filled with feelings…

My phone started ringing and interrupted my thinking. I think I heard Jared growl quietly when I dug it out of my pocket.

"Hello?" I said into the phone. Jared motioned to take it away from me, but I dodged his hand. I gave him a warning glance, and he just shrugged and smiled unashamed.

"Kim!" Alex's angry voice answered me. "Kim, where are you?"

"Um…" I looked at Jared. "Out," I said.

"Out where?" her enraged voice continued.

"Just out," I said again.

"Okay," Alex said, and then took a calming breath. I sensed that something was wrong, and went through the possibilities for what could have made Alex mad in my mind. I came up empty. I hadn't forgotten another shopping trip, had I?

"What's up, Alex?" I asked.

"I just had a talk with Cameron," she said, sounding like she spoke through clenched teeth. What did that have to do with me? "And he told me something about you and him on the mall yesterday." Oh. _Oh_. Of course. I had completely forgotten all about Cameron and his weird behavior yesterday.

"Oh, I was going to ask about that. What –"

"Oh, you were, weren't you?" Alex said acidly.

"Um… yes?" I felt like I was missing out on something huge.

"Okay, Kim, I understand that you're kind of broken after Jared, but you can't take comfort in other's boyfriends! And _mine_ over all!"

"Um…" Great, I was back to my um'ing again. "What?"

"You can't steal Cameron!" Alex screamed to me.

I was speechless. My mouth hung open, and I stared into Jared's eyes. He looked just as shocked as me.

"I wasn't… I… what… what did he tell you?" I pressed out.

"Everything, Kim!" she hissed. "Can't you give the poor guy a break? He was completely shocked when he came to me and told me all about your strange and flirty behavior. Seriously, Kim, I didn't think this about you."

"I haven't… I didn't… _What_ exactly did he tell you?"

"Oh, God, Kim! Just don't try and deny it!" With that she hung up. I held the phone to my ear, opening and closing my mouth like a fish as I tried to figure out what had just happened.

Jared wrenched the phone out of my hand.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

"Yes?" I said. He smiled lightly. "Did you hear what she said?" He nodded. "I wasn't flirting, was I? Because I don't think I was. I wasn't trying to, anyway –"

"_He_ knows that. He just didn't want you to go babbling about _him_ flirting with _you_, so he probably just switched roles with you –"

"What?" Jared rolled his eyes.

"You didn't even notice that he was hitting on you?"

"Obviously not," I said thoughtfully. Was _that_ what he was doing? I thought he just naturally was that annoying. And now that little brat was trying to make it sound like _I_ was the bad guy? How dare he!

"I thought it had gone far enough when I stepped in. He was starting to get kind of…"

"_Starting to get_? He _was_ all the time. From the first second of our talk, he was downright obnoxious all the time!"

"I'm glad you think that," Jared said, grinning.

"Bet you are," I muttered. I didn't want to be angry right now, so I filed the whole situation away for later. "How could you hear what Alex said?" I asked. Jared frowned of my sudden change of subject. Then he grinned widely.

"In addition to be strong, fast and absolutely gorgeous –"

"Narcissist," I muttered, earning a small growl from him

"I also have advanced senses. I can hear and see and smell and all that much better and more accurate than you can," he said smiling. I stuck my tongue out at him, playing offended.

"What more can you do?" I asked eagerly.

"I… heal very fast," he said.

"One that isn't boring."

"That isn't boring!"

"Is too."

"Is not! It means that if you sliced my hand open it would be back to normal before in like ten minutes!" he persuaded me. I paused, looking at him.

"Can I see?" I asked. He stared at me in disbelief.

"You're weird," he informed me when he saw that I wasn't joking.

"I know," I sighed. "Now show me!" Jared chuckled uncertainly but dug a pocket knife out of his jeans pocket.

"You carry a knife with you?" I asked skeptically. He shrugged.

"You never know," he said. He handed me the knife and held out his arm. I stared at him, shocked.

"I can't do it!" I said and held the knife in my open palms, not curling my fingers around it.

"I can't cut myself, can I? That would be sort of not smart," he said and smiled at my reaction.

"So I can just go around and cut people? Isn't that _sort of not smart_?"

"But it won't even leave a mark, I promise," he assured me. I looked at him with a doubtful expression. "It's really, really true," he added. He took the wrist of the hand I held the knife in and moved it closer to his arm. "Come on," he urged.

"You're crazy, has anyone ever told you that?"

"Says the girl who hangs out with a werewolf!" he snorted. I stuck my tongue out again.

"Are you _sure_ it won't hurt?"

"Yes! Now do it already!"

"Okay…" I said and pressed my eyes closed. I moved the knife to his skin and moved it lightly over.

"That wouldn't even slice _you're_ skin open," he laughed. I tried again, much harder, without opening my eyes. His low chuckle told me I hadn't done any damage. I jumped when I felt his huge, warm hand over my wrist. "Like this," he said, as if he was teaching a child something. I dared to open my eyes and felt him press the knife into his skin with his hand over mine. He used much more force than I'd been able to if I used all my strength.

The blood started to trickle out under the knife, and I gasped when I saw how deep the cut was. I heard Jared's low wince of pain.

Then the wound started healing by itself. The blood flow stopped, and under the blood that was already there the wound was gone. I just saw very light pink mark, almost not even visible at all. I swallowed.

"Was that cool enough for you?" Jared asked. I didn't know what to answer to that one, so I changed the subject immediately.

"You lied! You said it wouldn't hurt!" I accused him. Jared grinned unashamed.

"You wouldn't have done it if I told you it would," he explained.

"Of course not!" I said.

"And it didn't hurt very much. I can't feel it at all now."

I looked at him for a minute. "How hard _is_ your skin?"

Jared chuckled.

"Pretty hard, I guess," he said, examining his bloody arm. "_You_ didn't get through. But you're not the strongest person, either," he said, almost to himself. I hit his shoulder. "See, I barely felt that," he chuckled.

"I'll practice," I promised. He laughed.

"So, what are you going to do about the whole Cameron-thing?" he asked. I froze.

"You killed my moods!" I exclaimed.

"Sorry," he said, and looked at me with puppy-dog eyes.

"Fine! I forgive you!"

"Thanks," he said and dragged me in for a hug. I was going to throw my arms around his neck, but they were pinned between me and Jared's chest. I tried to pull them out without succeeding. So I figured I'd just enjoy the hug anyway.

"I was just wondering…" Jared said into my hair. "Afraid of dogs?"

I laughed.

"What, did you have a better explanation?"

"No. I was just wondering because if you really were, you would have a hard time hanging around me when I'm wolf-Jared."

"Wolf-Jared doesn't scare me. Human-Jared is actually much more frightening that wolf-Jared." He laughed.

"Do I scare you?"

"Not now, you don't. I'm talking about that day I was walking home from Gina's. You actually looked sort of dangerous then," I explained. His body tensed a little.

"Oh. Sorry about that, I was just worried about you. Or kind of mad, actually. I was angry that you would walk outside alone at night, putting yourself in danger like that," he said, and sounded very serious.

"There was no danger. And you're starting to sound like my parents. Danger everywhere. My mum thinks it dangerous for me to tie my shoe-laces in the street," I said and rolled my eyes, even though he couldn't see it. I was still cradled to him chest.

"If there's a lot of people in that street, you might be trampled down –"

"Overprotective jerk," I muttered. His body shook when he laughed.

"You need someone to protect you," he told me.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. You don't have a clear view of the world."

"I do too!"

"Don't."

"Do."

"Don't."

"This is childish, you know," I said.

"What is?"

"This "do" – "don't" business."

"I like childish," Jared said, and I felt him grin in my hair.

"I've noticed," I noted, and then he poked my side. I gasped.

"You're ticklish," he said in a devilish voice.

"Don't you dare!" I challenged and struggled to push myself away from him. But he dared. I screamed and protested all I could, but he had no mercy. At last he stopped, and held me up to look at his huge smirk. He looked extremely pleased with himself.

"I'll get you back one day," I giggled.

"Sure you will," he said sarcastically.

"I promise you, I will. When you least expect it."

"That'll be fun," he said, still smiling. "So. What are you doing about Cameron?" I groaned.

"You really have a talent of making me depressed, Jared," I said. His face lit up when I said his name.

"Whatever. What are you going to do?" I sighed.

"Don't know. Let me think about it for a minute." He nodded and kept smiling at me. I looked away from the distraction that was his face, and thought through the whole situation.

"Now?" Jared asked after about sixty seconds.

"You were counting?" I asked lightly in disbelief.

"Sure. What did you come to?"

I sighed.

"That I'll have a talk with Alex. Hopefully she'll understand. Boys come and go, friends are forever, right?"

"I won't go," he protested immediately.

"Well, you're the exception that proves the rule, I guess," I mused, smiling.

"How come?"

"I don't know. I just heard it once," I grinned.

"You are so weird," he said.

"You say that a lot," I informed him.

"I know. Because it's so obvious. I just can never seem to stop to state the obvious," he said. I rolled my eyes.

"Well, you're as weird as me. You're even weirder, because you want to be with a weird girl such as me." He wrapped his arms around me again and held me real tight, speaking into my hair.

"But you're _my_ weird girl. _My_ weird Kim."

* * *

**Here's a very weird thing: **

**My atlas don't have a map over the world. That's weird, right? I'm not the only one who finds that sort of strange? **

**That was just something that had to get out. **

**Now. **

**This chapter doesn't really have a real meaning. Not much happens, they basically sit on the forest floor all the time. But I felt like writing that for now, action can come in next chapter. **

**And to all of my GREAT reviewers, what are you doing disabling the Personal Message-thing? **

**I can't respond to any of you, if you keep on like that! **

**(This is for you, InWayTooDeep: **

**Kind of funny, we have the exactely same thing in Gym now too. I think I'm going to fail, I'm just so bad.) **

**And to all of those who asked about when he's telling her about the imrpinting-thing: Very soon. Next or nextnext chapter, I think. (haha, nextnext? What a weird thing to say...)**

**I'm going to shut up now. **

**So review and don't disable the personal message-thingy. It's unnecessary, and annoying for I want to tell everyone how grateful I am for them reviewing my stories! **

**Shut up... **

**Right. **


	10. Cheater!

**Chapter ten of the story that once was a one shot!**

**I don't own anything. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Why can't I just call her?" I asked.

"I told you, it's better in person. Over the phone it's just impersonal and it can be faked. Face to face you have to tell the truth, or she'll see it," Jared explained.

"It's still stupid," I muttered, crossing my arms stubbornly. Jared was driving me to Alex's house to explain and apologize (for what, I have no idea. I did nothing wrong), and he insisted that I did it to her face. I guess he was one of those moral-freaks.

"What if she throws something at me? A toaster or something," I said.

"She won't. I'll watch you."

"And what, turn into a wolf and jump in between us?" I snorted. "Yeah, right."

"Don't be silly, Kim," Jared said.

"_I'm_ silly?" I said, purposely sounding hurt. Jared's eyes flickered to me, concerned.

"I didn't mean –"

"You worry too much," I told him for the hundredth of time.

"You say that a lot," he said, copying me from yesterday.

"I guess I'm just one of those who just have to state the obvious in every situation," I copied his answer. He chuckled. "I'm still mad at you," I informed him.

"I know, I just choose to ignore it," he said. He pulled up outside Alex's huge, red house.

"You're a mean werewolf!" I accused him.

"No, I'm a nice one, who teaches you the difference between right and wrong," he smiled.

"I thought you loved me," I said, playing hurt again.

"I do!" Jared said in a convincing voice. His eyes were worried again.

"Sure doesn't seem like it," I muttered.

"Kim, I –"

"Take a joke, Jared," I said, frowning. Jared stuck his tongue out at me.

"Get out, apologize and get back in here," he ordered. I narrowed my eyes, silently challenging him to a staring contest. He took the challenge, and concentrated his eyes on mine. I stared until my eyes started burning, and then broke away.

"Fine!" I bellowed. "But you owe me big-time for this, _Jared_," I said sourly and jumped out of the car. I think I heard his low chuckle before I slammed the door closed. That was just like Jared. Talking about how worried he always was of me, and then he _laughs_ when I'm angry!

What a jerk.

I walked without turning up to Alex's door and rang the door bell. I waited for about thirty seconds, and then the door burst open. Alex's face appeared. When she saw it was me, she motioned to smash the door back into my face.

I quickly stepped my foot in the opening, making it impossible for her to lock me out without cutting my foot right over.

"Alex, listen to me," I pleaded.

"I'm not in the mood for this now, Kim," Alex said angrily.

"But you _have_ to believe me!"

"I don't have to do anything. Move your foot."

"Please?" I said. I struck me that I sounded exactly like Jared when I was angry with him. Huh. Poor guy. Note to self: apologize one more time to Jared.

"Fine! Say what you came to say," Alex said and crossed her arms.

"Okay, thanks," I said and smiled hurriedly. "So I'm not sure what Cameron –" it took a lot of effort from me _not_ to grimace at his name "– told you, but I can assure you that there was no… intentional flirting from my side. Promise," I said honestly.

"That's not what Cameron said," Alex told me. Her way of saying the icky boy's name was so much… different from my way. She said it in a way that made it sound like he was the finest creature on earth. Which he so absolutely… _wasn't_.

"Cameron is…" I started, but couldn't find the right words. What should I say, that Cameron is a player and is cheating on her? I didn't even know for sure that was true. It could have been a misunderstanding, maybe Cameron hadn't intentionally flirted with me "either". Maybe he thought that I thought he had and this was his only defense.

I had to go through that twice in my mind to get it right.

"Alex?" said the slime ball's voice from the stairs. Ugh. I grimaced behind Alex's back as she turned.

"Kim says she didn't _intentionally_ flirt with you," Alex said.

_I'm starting to feel a little unwelcome here…_

_Brain! I thought I'd lost you forever…_

_Oh, talking to your own head again? Pay attention to reality, that's what matters!_

I really had to stop doing that.

The way Alex said my name, as if she was disgusted just by the sound of it, hurt me. I fought the tears as the two of them paired up against me, but held my head high.

I gave Cameron a suspicious look. He narrowed his eyes at me.

Idiot.

"Alex, listen to me. I'm telling the truth here," I tried to convince her. She didn't look convinced at all. I groaned mentally.

"You should leave," Cameron suggested in a voice that clearly was acting. I gave him a sharp, furious glare as he walked over to Alex and put his unworthy arm over her shoulders. When Alex couldn't see he blinked at me and smirked shortly.

I had to stifle a gasp. Then I turned to Alex.

"Please, Alex! He's no good for you!"

"Trying to steal him again, Kim?" Alex said in an icy voice. "Seriously, I didn't think you could be like this. I've known you my whole life, and then you suddenly turn against me? What's up with you?" she said.

"I didn't do anything!" I hissed, my voice getting weaker as the "gorgeous" Cameron shot me another smirk.

"Of course not. Why don't you go back to your miserable little life, Kim," Alex said harshly. "Go home and mourn over _Jared_ again. Like he would ever like _you_, the way you're behaving!" she mercilessly added.

The words hit me harder than they should. I knew the words were a lie. I wasn't behaving badly. And Jared _did_ like me. But Alex's words stung me so hard that I just wanted to cradle down on the ground and be nothing.

Instead I turned my back on her and walked back to the car. I heard the door slam closed behind me, and I was glad to have at least the woody plate between myself and that ugly little rat.

Jared leaned over the seats and opened my door before I reached it. He half dragged me into the car and drove off with one arm around me.

"Jared?" I said quietly when he stopped the car outside my house.

"Hm?" he asked softly.

"I'm sorry I was so bitchy towards you when you wanted to explain. It must have sucked," I said. Jared surprised me by chuckling slightly. Or maybe I wasn't very surprised. He did laugh a lot.

"And you're thinking about that _now_?" he asked. I nodded against his chest.

"I think about _everything_," I told him.

"Okay. It _did_ suck actually. You're very stubborn."

"You would have been too, if you were in my position," I said sullenly.

"Probably," he said lightly. I sighed.

"Then what can I do now?" I asked. "About Alex."

"Well, you can either keep bugging her and follow her and everything, or just wait till she finds it out herself," he said, sounding sort of grown-up.

"But she'll get hurt," I protested.

"She will get hurt no matter what. You could try kidnapping her, though…" he said thoughtfully. I snorted.

"Be serious."

"Worked for me," he grinned.

"Don't get your hopes up, wolf-boy. I might just be humoring you," I warned him playfully, glad for this little ease of tension. But my mind didn't let go of the Alex-Cameron situation completely. I sighed again.

"I think I'll wait. She'll come around," I said. I was mostly trying to convince myself.

"Knowing Cameron, it will probably happen by the end of this week," Jared said.

"Why?"

"He's just that type of guy. You know, one of those who changes their minds and get tired of their girls more often than the rest of us changes socks?"

"How come _you_ know so much about _that_?" I asked, mockingly suspicious. Jared poked my side, and I jumped with a low growl.

"Weirdo. I know because I'm a guy. I've seen a lot more than you could imagine," he said in a dark voice that made me giggle. "Some of them even have these time-limits. Each relationship lasts for example one month, and then they switch."

"Boys are rotten," I muttered. I felt him press his face to my hair.

"I'm not," he told me.

"Of course you're not," I mumbled. He chuckled into my hair. I let my thoughts drift their own way, hoping to forget about Alex and _Cameron_. Ugh, what an ugly guy. Cheating on _my_ best friend? I was really very cowardly when I let it up to fate to separate them. I also felt that I owed Alex better than this, but it was just too… hard…

Hopefully Cameron would cheat on her very soon. What a twisted thing to think, I'm actually _hoping_ and _counting on_ my best friends boyfriend to hurt her. Well, I guess I am pretty twisted.

_Duh, because you're Kim_!

_Brain… sometimes I find it better if you just shut up._

Maybe he would be _very_ fast, if I were lucky. Maybe already in school tomorrow…

"Shoot!" I exclaimed. Jared jumped in surprise.

"What?" he said, alert.

"School!" I moaned. Jared said nothing for a few seconds. When he spoke, his voice sounded as if he was smiling.

"What about it?" he asked playfully.

"_Everything_ about it. I can't go to school!"

"Why?"

"Because. Maybe I'll be sick tomorrow."

"Not likely," Jared snorted.

"Oh, right. I forgot I have an overprotective, annoying werewolf hanging over me these days. I can't _be_ sick or _fake_ sickness anymore. Darn," I said.

"You're lucky you have me," he protested.

"Sure," I said. I wondered if English would be harder or easier to pay attention to now. It couldn't be _harder_, I think it must have reached its limit before.

I didn't hear my mum's car before it drove past Jared's.

"Oh," I muttered. I had no idea the time had passed so quickly.

"I should leave," Jared said.

"Do you have to? I'll tell my mum I'm going out –"

"No, I really _should_. I have to meet up with the pa… someone," he corrected himself. I sighed.

"We have to work on this "open relationship"-thing. You're leaving too much out," I accused him.

"I don't. I just… I always tell you the important things," Jared assured me.

"Okay. So what are you really going to do now?"

Jared frowned.

"You're not playing it fair," he told me.

"_I'm_ playing it fair!"

"Whatever. Go help your mother with the groceries," he suggested. He leaned over me and opened my door for me.

"I can do that myself, you know," I said and nodded pointedly to the door.

"Sure, I just like doing it," he grinned.

"So, where are you going?" I tried again.

"See you, Kim," he said and started to push me out.

"Wait! No, you…" I protested, but I slumped out of the seat and had to focus on steadying myself on the wet ground. When I looked up again he drove out of our drive-way.

"Jerk," I muttered, and wondered if he could hear that. I would have to ask him about that later.

Mum watched me in a frozen position as I walked over to her. She held an unhappy Gretchen in her arms, and as soon as I reached her she pushed the kid into my arms and started to grab the bags filled with groceries from the car.

"Who was that?" she asked me nonchalantly.

"Just Jared," I said carefully as I tried to find a way to hold Gretchen she was comfortable with. Her loud, protesting groans told me I was doing something wrong.

"Where have you been?" she continued.

"Um…" I hesitated. What to answer, what to answer… "He just had to show me something. In his car." Okay, that obviously wasn't a smart thing to say. Mum straightened up immediately, and hit her head in the roof of the car. What had I said wrong _now_?

"Show you?" mum asked uncertainly.

"Yes, this new CD of his," I lied, smoother than I usually did. Mum grumbled something, but didn't say anything else when she started to drag the three heavy bags towards the house. I let go of Gretchen when she drove her little fist into my face, and pulled her by the arm after me.

I let her off when I reached the kitchen, and darted for my room. I almost didn't even reach the bed before my door opened, and my mum stalked inside.

"Ever heard of knocking?" I asked, doing my best on keeping my voice polite.

"I just wanted to talk to you about something," she said. She came over to my bed at sat down next to where I was lying. I didn't like the sound of this. Suddenly I felt an urge to jump right out the window and run for my dear life.

"About what?" I asked suspiciously.

"About you getting older," she said. That made me no smarter at all.

"And?" I asked doubtfully. Mum had one of her famous "looks" in her eyes. It was impossible to see what she was thinking, but she usually had that expression when there was something urgent or important. I couldn't find anything that would qualify to one of those standards now, though.

"And, when you get older, you also discover the other sex in a very different way than before. But just because you're not a kid anymore, doesn't mean that you should… take a wild jump in the direction of which you think is the adult world," mum said. I was completely blank. Mum kept talking. "So, before you get… physically… involved with –" Horrified I realized what direction this was taking. I sat up in an instant and stared at mum with horror-struck eyes.

"Mum!" I exclaimed. "Ew!"

"Kimmy, I think I need to talk to you about these things. You're young and don't know much about –"

"I know _plenty_ enough, mum! Middle school beat you there!" I said, still half screaming.

"I'm just going to tell you about contraception and –"

"Mum, our teacher handed out condoms like a year ago. I think I'm well prepared," I said through my teeth. Mum looked at me with a shocked expression. "No! Ew, mum, that's not what I meant!" I said, grimacing.

"Well, Kimmy, I think I'm in my right to talk to you about this. I am your mother," she informed me.

"Yes, but… I already know everything. Promise. And… I'm not going to… before I'm married or something!"

Mum ignored my protests and started going on and on about "contraception" and "maturity" and "virginity". I pretended to pay attention while I was silently growling inside.

* * *

**Yeah, he didn't tell her about the imrinting yet. Not next chapter either, I think, but maybe the one after that. **

**So, I'm not sure where I'm going with this. I'm thinking I'm going to need another storyline here to build up the whole thing... **

**Wonder how long this will turn out. It was supposed to be a one shot, in the start.**

**Hm, weird how things just kind of grows out of nothing... **

**What do you think of this chapter?? Not as long as the last ones. **

**If you have any ideas of things I can put in here, a situation or something that would be funny, just tell me. I'm writing this only to entertain myself (and the ones that wants to read it), so anything would work. **


	11. Project

**So here comes chapter 11, and I _still _don't own anything.**

* * *

I couldn't make myself be mad a Jared when I saw his car outside my house the next morning. I ran out, calling a "bye" to my mum as I passed the kitchen, and hurried through the rain to Jared's car. The door was open before I reached it, and I jumped in.

"Thanks," I said, and closed the door before he had the time to do it for me.

"How was your night?" Jared asked without any introduction. I shrugged.

"Fine," I said. I paused for a second. "You know, I should be pissed at you," I added. He drove out of our drive-way and onto the wet road.

"Again?" Jared asked. I nodded. "Can I ask why?"

"If you really, really want to know."

"I do. Why?"

"Well, after you so rudely left me yesterday –" I narrowed my eyes at him. "– my mum decided she'd better have the "sex talk" with me," I told him. It took him about three seconds to understand what I'd just said, and then he suddenly burst into a roar of laughter. I couldn't help it but to laugh a little myself. His laugh was just so catching.

"How did that go?" he pressed out through his last chuckles.

"Pretty good, I'd say. I eventually managed to convince her that…" I frowned. "… it's not like that," I finished. Jared snickered again. "What did you do last night?"

His smile faded instantly, and he didn't meet my eyes. I sighed loudly.

"This is getting sort of annoying," I told him. He shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "I'm not that fragile, tell me what you were doing," I demanded. Jared glanced at me uncertainly. "Why won't you tell me?" I asked when he didn't talk.

"I… don't know," he answered me a bit absently. He glanced at me again.

"I really do mean that we have to work on being honest," I said matter-of-factly.

"I'm always honest," Jared said quickly.

"Well, on being open, then," I clarified. He said nothing. He just stared at the road in front of him. I waved my hand in front of his face, and he jumped slightly. Taking advantage of the attention, I said: "Tell me or I won't tell you my secret!"

Jared looked at me, puzzled.

"Secret?" he asked. I nodded. He narrowed his eyes. "You're just trying to make me tell you."

"Of course," I said lightly and smiled. "But I won't tell you…" I smiled and looked like I was thinking deeply. "What I decided to do about Cameron and Alex," I said, grinning wider. Jared frowned suspiciously.

"You decided?" he asked.

"Yup. But if I'm going to tell you, you'll have to tell me first," I said, feeling like a little child. He deliberated that for a minute.

"I'll answer you one question," he said.

"You'll answer me everything!"

"One thing."

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"That's not fair," I accused. He grinned.

"Is too," he said playfully. I rolled my eyes, but couldn't hold myself:

"Is not," I muttered. He opened his mouth to answer, but I held my finger up in front of his face as a warning. He pressed his lips together and blinked at me. "Fine. One thing, but I'm expecting that you to be a better compromiser later," I said. Jared grinned triumphantly. "And this does _not_ mean that I cave easily!"

"Yes, it does," he insisted, smiling teasingly. I thudded his arm lightly and stuck my tongue out. "What do you want to know?" he asked me.

I thought about that for a minute. If I only had one question, it had to be well thought-through.

"Who else is a werewolf?" I asked. Jared's smile faded a little, and he looked as though he was backing out. "Hey! That's not a part of the deal! Stick to the agreement, you dog!" I said. His lips twitched a little at "dog".

"'Kay. I'm not sure if you know them, but… it's Sam… and Paul," he said. He probably skipped the last names on purpose, so it would be a smaller chance that I knew who they were. Jared smiled weakly at me, and looked like he was relieved to get this off his chest.

"Paul, as in Paul one-year-under-us-Paul?" I asked, surprised. Jared nodded slightly. "And I know Sam, too," I said triumphantly. "Or, I've seen him. But that's basically the same thing."

"Sure. What was that about Cameron?" Jared changed the subject.

"Well, I think we should rush it. Because I'm sort of impatient," I told him.

"How?"

"I was thinking we could ask Gina to do us – or me – a favor. She's probably up for it, if I tell her what happened. She can't stand Cameron either," I explained. We had reached the school by now, and Jared parked the car in between two others. Then he turned his attention to me again.

"How?" he repeated.

"Well, maybe Gina could give him "the wrong impression" on purpose or something. And then I'll have Alex walk in on them when he responds, which he definitely will, if he fits your description. I know, it's so TV high school-drama, but if it works for them…?" I mused. Jared snickered shortly.

"You know real life isn't like it is on TV?" he joked.

"Of course it is! How come I have a werewolf friend if it isn't?" Jared looked deliberately at me. Then he nodded with a mocking grin.

"Sure," he said. We got out of the car and started to walk towards the school building. My eyes caught the sight of Gina a few meters ahead of us, and I raced to her without a word to Jared.

"Hi," I said as I ran up next to Gina. She turned to face me. She wore an inscrutable expression all over her face, so I couldn't see what she was thinking. For a second I felt worried. Had she believed in Cameron's lies also?

"Okay, what _exactly_ happened on Friday? You didn't _seriously_ try to make a move on that gross little parasite?" she asked me, and her face got a disgusted shadow over it.

"Ugh, of course not," I said.

"Good. Because if you had, we wouldn't be friends anymore," she told me seriously. I rolled my eyes.

"He, on the other hand, is a cheater," I said.

"What?"

"He's playing her. He was totally hitting on me at the mall –" only I didn't notice. "– and now he's blaming me so Alex won't believe me when I tell her the truth," I explained. Gina's face turned a bit confused.

"Seriously?" she asked. I nodded, disgusted. "Ugh, what a creep."

"Agreed. So, Alex wouldn't listen to me. Maybe Cameron has put a spell upon her or something. I don't know, but she won't listen at all."

"What, you want me to try? Like she'll listen to _me_ any more than she'll listen to _you_?"

"No," I rolled my eyes. "But I sort of need your help to get her to realize what type of guy he is." Gina looked puzzled as she was trying to figure out what I was saying. Then realization washed over her.

"Are you… Do you… Kim, EW!" she exclaimed.

"It's just an act!" I pressed.

"Do you want me to… EW!" she repeated.

"I know! I know, Gina, but what do you suggest? I don't want her with that idiot any longer. The faster, the better. And you'll just have to keep it going till Alex walks in on you. I'll make sure she's close by," I promised. Gina looked at me doubtfully.

"This is really twisted, Kim," she told me.

_That's me. Twisted. _

I nodded.

"I know," I assured her. Gina paused for a second.

"Okay... When do you want me to do this… thing?"

"Lunch?" I asked, so glad that I almost lifted from the ground out of sheer will power.

"'Kay," Gina said uncertainly. I beamed at her.

"Thanks. I owe you one," I said and threw my arms around her neck for a short hug. She looked like she was taken aback; I was never the one to _give_ hugs. I only received them.

"You owe me many," she grinned. I rolled my eyes.

"Sure. See you, I have English," I said. Then I remembered something. "Oh! I almost forgot!" I said and took Gina's arm to get her attention. "I've made up with Jared," I grinned. Her eyes widened.

"Say what?" she croaked.

"I made up with Jared," I repeated. She looked just as shocked.

"Why would you do that?" she hissed.

"Because it was all a big misunderstanding," I told her.

"Are you really that dumb, Kim?" Gina said, suddenly outraged. "Don't you see that he's _just_ like Cameron! He's playing you, Kimmy!" She sounded almost concerned for me.

"Trust me," I said, trying not to jump to her throat for saying those things about my werewolf boy. "He's _nothing_ like Cameron. He's very different, actually," I assured her.

"Kim, that's what Alex thought too, first."

"I have better judgment than Alex."

"Hardly," Gina muttered. I ignored it and waved at her.

"See you at lunch," I said and headed for my class. Jared was already there when I got there, and I smiled brightly as I sat down at my desk.

"Did you talk to Gina?" he asked me. I nodded.

"She's in. She didn't believe Cameron's stupid lies, which suits me just fine," I said, smiling. Jared smiled too.

"Oh, and one more thing," I added, my smile turning mischievous and my voice faded down to a whisper. "I think you're a very foul werewolf. I mean, I managed to escape you without any difficulties."

Jared rolled his eyes at me.

"Because I let you."

"Because you didn't realize till I was too far away," I corrected him smugly.

"Not true."

"_Very_ true!"

"Is not."

"Is too."

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"This is childish."

"You're just afraid you'll lose," I teased.

"I never lose," he spat.

"Do too,"

"Stop that!" he said, annoyed. I grinned. He looked like he was trying to stay serious, but then he smiled anyway. "You're annoying," he noted.

"Only when I'm really trying," I smirked. He rolled his eyes again.

English passed in a blur. I was wrong, it was _much_ harder to concentrate now. Because now I felt Jared's eyes on me the whole time, and I knew it wasn't just something I imagined. I wrote "Shakespeare" into my note book again, because I still had no clue what Mr. Leighton was talking about, and Shakespeare seemed like a good, flexible thing to guess on.

When the class finally finished, I gathered my things quickly. Jared surprised me by putting an arm over my shoulders.

"Shakespeare?" he asked me, sounding amused. I blushed.

"Yeah, I have some trouble concentrating in English. Mind telling me what we've been talking about for the last weeks?" Or rather last year.

"Well, it's not Shakespeare, that's for sure," he said and laughed huskily. "Didn't you even hear anything about the project?"

"A project?" I asked, worried. Projects meant pair work. And pair work meant that I had to have a suitable partner. I couldn't concentrate with Jared, and I didn't even know the name of the other's in my class. What a dilemma.

"Yeah. Easy one, about a book you've read. You're working with _Norman_," Jared said, sounding a bit disgusted. Well, at least I didn't have to choose for myself. Though I had no idea who this Norman-guy might be. I cleared my throat, embarrassed.

"Who?" I asked weakly.

"The geek with glasses," Jared said in a low, almost angry voice. I turned to see if I could see a "geek with glasses" anywhere close by, thinking it would be a smart move to actually know who my partner was. I noticed a skinny guy with short, red hair and freckles with glasses that were way too round and big for his little, pale face. I wrinkled my nose.

"Poor guy," I mused.

"Him? What about me!" Jared asked.

"Why?"

Jared rolled his eyes.

"Where have you been?" I blushed even more. "I have to work with _Carol_," he said, snorting. I remembered Carol, but only because she spent the whole first month of the year to try to become my friend. I'd been too distracted to ever pay her much attention.

"What's wrong with her?" I asked.

"She's just annoying," Jared answered me curtly.

"She's nice," I defended her, figuring I owed her that much.

"She's too… jumpy." I laughed.

"_Jumpy_?"

"Yes. Too eager, I guess. Always on top. It's driving me crazy!" he almost sneered. I chuckled.

"Poor little thing," I soothed him. He shot me a dark look, and I smiled innocently up at him.

"I don't like Norman, either," he added.

"Should have guessed it. What's wrong with him? Don't you like red hair?" I teased.

"I don't actually, but that's not the point." He looked at me with serious eyes. This was going too slow for me.

"What's the point?" I urged impatiently.

"The way he looks at you," he said as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. I giggled.

"You're so funny when you're jealous," I told him and shook my head. Jared pressed his lips together to stifle his smile.

"Well, if he don't stop, I might end up beating the living shi –"

"Hey! Calm down there, werewolf-boy!" I shouted mockingly. He stuck his tongue out, copying me. I giggled again. It was first now that I started to notice that people around us in the hallway were staring. I even heard a few whispers. Embarrassed I motioned to pull away from Jared's arm, but he held me back.

"Just ignore them," he suggested. I bit my lip and tried to do what he said, holding my head high.

Of course I should be expecting this reaction from the students. I mean, Jared, gorgeous, gorgeous, Jared and little, thin-haired and wide-faced Kim? No wonder they were a bit curious. Or disgusted, maybe.

Jared followed me to Spanish. I felt oddly lonely when he left. Alex didn't even look at me when I entered the classroom, and she turned her chair away from me and moved it a bit away from me. I tried not to let her get to me, thinking that in two hours I would be forgiven.

I had to be.

* * *

**So, I'm having my English exams next Friday. I'm happy that's the one I got, one of my friends ended up with math. Poor girl. **

**But I just wanted to ask you all to help me if I have some grammar mistakes. I mean, I'm not brought up with the English language, so there's definitely many of them, I just need help seeing them. So please, _please,_ tell me so I won't screw up on my exams. **

**When that's said, what do you think of this chapter? **

**I'm not sure, but I think there's something about it I don't like. As usual, I can't point out exactely what... **

**Lots of love from me =P**


	12. Tricks

**Chapter 12, and I don't own anything.**

* * *

"You _both_ owe me _so_ much after this," Gina growled as she looked at Cameron from the corner of the cafeteria. He was on his way out with Alex under his damned arm.

"Both, as in –"

"As in you and Alex!" Gina sneered. I held back my smile, and answered "sure". We ran across the cafeteria to follow Cameron and Alex, and found them in the hallway. Alex was just entering the bathroom.

"Perfect," I squealed. Gina groaned.

"Does this mean I have to do it _now_?" she asked.

"Yup," I smiled reassuringly. "Be strong, soldier," I said mockingly. She shot me a dark look.

"I won't let him kiss me," she promised me.

"I'm not expecting you to, either," I assured her and gave her a small push towards the creep across the hall. Now he had dragged up a mirror from his pocket and was studying his greasy hair. I grimaced and felt really sorry for Gina, who had to be the one to sacrifice.

Gina walked hesitantly over to him, and several times it looked like she wanted to turn around and run right out of the school.

She put a hand on Cameron's shoulder when she reached him, and he turned immediately, alert. He grinned widely when he saw it was her. She said something in a voice too low for me to hear. He answered with an even wider grin that made me want to puke.

Gina took a few steps around him and he followed her face, so his back was turned to the bathroom-door. I understood this was my cue. I hurried across the hallway and into the bathroom behind Cameron's back. He didn't even turn to the sound of the door opening and closing, he was too busy staring at Gina's pretty face.

I bumped into Alex at once. Her expression turned furious when she saw it was me. She made to walk past me, but I stopped her.

"Just hear me out, one more time," I pleaded as I stepped in front of her. She hesitated and looked at my face, thinking.

"Fine. I'd _love_ to hear your side of this," she said in an icy voice. I forced a smile.

"Okay. Don't believe Cameron," I started, and Alex became irritated at once.

"Kim –"

"No, please. I'm telling the truth, honestly! _I_ wasn't the one to flirt on Friday. He shifted our roles, because he didn't want me to go blabber to _you_. _He_ was the one to act inappropriate, not me!"

"Kim, I –"

"You believe me, don't you?" I said and made my eyes big and pleading. "Believe me, Alex! I would never lie to you, and you know that! I'm so sorry, but it's the truth –"

"I really don't want to have this conversation right now," Alex cut me off angrily.

"But –"

"Not now, Kim," she repeated and made to walk to the door. I panicked, trying to find something to distract her. I wasn't sure Gina had come very far with Cameron yet.

Suddenly I started to worry that he would reject her. What if he saw through our plan and pushed her away? Or what if he wasn't tongue-tied when we came back out, what if he immediately made up another excuse? My genius plan didn't seem so genius anymore.

"Alex, _please_ listen to me!" I begged and stepped in front of her again. Unluckily Alex was both taller and stronger than me, and she pushed past me without much difficulties. The door was open before I reached to stop her, and I darted after her. Alex's loud gasp told me that what she saw wasn't something she liked to see.

I jumped past her, and gasped myself, both out of shock and as an act.

Cameron was pressing Gina to the lockers and had his lips pressed to hers. But she wasn't fighting against him, she clung to him as if her life depended on it. The position lasted for about half a second after our gasps. Both their heads turned to us, and they broke away from each other immediately.

Gina looked annoyed.

Cameron looked confused.

He looked from Gina to Alex a couple of times, and then he did exactly what I'd feared.

"What the hell?" he exclaimed and looked at Gina with shocked and indignant eyes. He was a poor actor. Even _I_ could seen through him, even if I hadn't already known.

"What are you doing?" Alex whispered and looked furiously from Gina to Cameron. I was pretty glad to be held out of this. No one seemed to blame me.

_Yet_.

"What do you think you're doing, you stinking… little slut," he pressed out, obviously struggling to find suitable names to call her. I felt the rage build in my chest. What a hypocrite, I thought. And calling my best friend a slut? He was going down.

Gina looked pretty annoyed too.

"Jerk!" she shouted at him. He ignored her and walked to Alex's side. He took her arm roughly and started to drag her with him as he muttered things about how this was all Gina's fault. Alex didn't struggle with him. What had he done to her? She looked like she believed his every word.

I was speechless until the two of them disappeared around the corner. Then I turned my furious glare at Gina.

"_You were supposed to fight him off_!" I hissed. Gina blushed. Yes, she actually blushed.

_Does anybody have a camera? _

"I did that first," she defended herself.

"Idiot! Now it looks like we're _both_ trying to steal him from her! That's _gross_!"

"But I couldn't help it! He's such a good kisser!" she argued. I raised my eyebrow at her.

"Ew, Gina," I reminded her. She shrugged.

"He's still gross, but _boy_, can he kiss!" she insisted and got a fair, dreamy expression over her face. I closed my eyes and shook my head.

"This didn't turn out right," I muttered to myself.

"Why?" said a voice behind me, making me jump.

"Jared!" I shouted before I turned. I heard Gina's low grumble when she saw Jared. She clearly didn't like him that much.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," Jared said, but he was grinning.

"You keep saying that," I mumbled.

"I'm leaving," Gina muttered. I ignored her as she went on with her low, angry speculations when she walked away from us.

"What happened?" asked Jared when Gina was gone.

"Gina fell for his lousy tricks," I said unhappily. "And where were you? You should have been her to witness!"

"Sorry, had things to do," he apologized. I stared at him for a minute.

"You're not going to tell me what, are you?" I asked. He shook his head with another one of those grins that said that this discussion was over. I sighed. "Well, the only thing this resulted in is that now Alex hates both me _and_ Gina, and she'll probably trust Cameron just as blindly as before," I said sourly.

"It'll work out. He'll screw up for himself soon enough," Jared assured me and put a hand on my cheek. It was so big that it covered most of my face, so I blushed. He smiled.

"You're funny when you blush," he noted.

"Good for you," I muttered silently.

He chuckled slightly and ruffled my hair, resulting in me jerking away and flattening it.

"You're messing up my hair!" I hissed at him. He chuckled again.

"Your hair looks great, no matter what," he snickered.

_Yeah, right_, I thought, and narrowed my eyes at him. I hated my hair. It was flat and boring, and it never seemed to get any volume in it. I'd used all my savings to buy these _fantastic _products and hairsprays to make it prettier, but no.

The bell started ringing, and I turned to leave for my class. Jared dragged me back for a tight hug that gave me difficulties breathing.

"What was that for?" I asked as he let me go and I had caught my breath.

"Just because," he said. He paused for a second. "And I might skip the rest of the day," he added with apologetic eyes.

"Where are you –"

"That was what the hug was for. I'll tell you later, 'kay?" he said. I suddenly felt myself lift halfway from the ground.

"Really?" I asked.

"Sure," he said with an amused smile.

"Thank you!" I said and grinned widely. I spun around and hurried in the direction of math-class. The butterflies was still flying wildly in my stomach as I entered the classroom two minutes late. Once again I had trouble concentrating, and this time Jared wasn't even in the same room.

_Jeez, Kim. This is getting pretty bad._

Yeah, well, I didn't care if I failed every single subject as long as I got to stay with Jared.

My Jared.

My wolf-boy.

* * *

**So, that was chapter 12. **

**Wow, never thought this would turn out this long... And it is far from finished yet, I think. **

**Once again, if you see any grammar mistakes, just tell me. I won't be sad, I'll be happy =P**

**I've got many reviews and PM's where people are asking me if I can kill Cameron. **

**Haha, didn't know there were so many violent people out there. I, for one, won't kill him. I have this thing called a conscience and it would really bug me if I murdered someone. **

**And I think Alex would get sort of angry with me too. **

**But just keep reviewing. It's just fun to see how you are reacting! **


	13. Yikes

**Chapter 13. **

**Ops, unlucky number.. maybe I should just skip this chapter and go straight to the next one?**

**Okay, I won't. The movie theatre in Bergen did, though. They have numbers on the halls, and they skipped 13. They go from 12 to 14. Pretty funny, actually...**

**I don't own anything.**

* * *

Norman Lee was a very smart guy. You know, one of those who sound like a lexicon when they speak. I'd pretty rudely told him to start talking like a teenager, not like a professor. He'd flushed crimson red and muttered an apology. I'd apologized too, because it really wasn't fair to the poor guy.

But at least now I understood what he was saying.

"Sophie's world?" Norman asked. I could see he was getting tired of this. He'd read all these fantastic and extremely long books, but I'd read none of them.

"No," I answered for the hundredth of times.

"The pillars of the earth?"

"Um… no?"

"The Da Vinci-code?"

"No." Norman looked like he wanted to sigh in desperation, but he was way too polite for that. Instead he looked me right into the eyes and asked me slowly:

"What have you read?" Even though his tone was calm enough, it sounded like he said "have you ever even read a book?"

"I've read… Harry Potter," I said in a small voice. Norman bit his lip. Okay, so a series written for children maybe wasn't what he was interested in.

"Anything else?" he asked politely.

"Narnia," I answered, feeling like a little kid. But he seemed more enthusiastic about Narnia than about Harry Potter.

"All of them?"

"Well… no. Not the one about the horse."

"The horse and his boy?" Norman asked.

"That's the one," I smiled sheepishly.

"We can do Narnia," Norman said and smiled widely. I was really starting to like this guy. He didn't have the "looks", but he sure had a cute personality. "Do you have "The horse and his boy" at home?"

"Sure, I have all of them in one huge, black, brick," I smiled.

"Do you think you could read it, too?"

"Sure." It wasn't _that_ long, as far as I could remember. The only reason I'd skipped it was because I hate horses. They're just… big and stupid. And, as my dad says, they fart.

I let my eyes drift around the classroom as Norman read through our task one more time. I stopped with Jared and Carol. He looked extremely bored, and looked at Carol with empty eyes. I heard her eager voice talking about all the books she'd read.

"I never finished Eragon, because it was so damn boring. A friend of mine did, and she's totally into it, but I just can't see why. And I read this amazing series written by… Diana Gabl… Gabald… something. I don't think you read that, though. I mean, both me and my mum likes it, and the same with my friend who liked Eragon, but I think it's more a girly series. Oh! And Molly Moon! Wait, maybe that one is more for children. Wait! Have you read "Tales of Otori"? It's _fantastic_! See, it's about this boy –"

Jared turned his face toward me, and looked at me with a martyred expression. As far as I knew, he wasn't much of a reader, just like me. I smiled encouraging to him, and he pouted childishly.

"Kim?" Norman said, dragging me back to reality. Or, to the project-reality. I dragged my eyes off of the gorgeous creature that was Jared, and focused on Norman again.

"What?"

"Um… I asked if you wanted to make this presentation a dialogue of just as a lecture," he said and looked hesitantly in the direction of Jared.

"Um… what?"

"Well, dialogue is more like acting, sort of. Like we're talking about the book with each other. Or just a lecture where we simply tell the class about the story, the writer and a little interpretation and what we thought of when we read it."

"Lecture," I said after I heard the word "acting". Not one of my few talents.

"'Kay," Norman said and looked at the task again. "Um… it's supposed to last fifteen minutes," he said in a doubtful voice.

"That'll be fine. We can show some pictures or something to pass the time," I suggested, and he nodded.

Then the bell rang and I jumped to my feet immediately.

"See you tomorrow," I said to Norman, and he nodded slightly, his eyes on something behind me. As I turned I saw Jared stand there, looking at poor Norman with murderous eyes.

I skipped over to him and touched his arm.

"You're just so funny," I giggled. His face softened.

"Ready to go?"

At lunch I felt really torn. Alex was sitting with Cameron on a table on the other end of the room. Gina had reluctantly agreed to sit with me and Jared, but she kept her eyes on her food all the time. And every time Jared touched me or said something about me, she made little choking sounds to demonstrate what she thought of it.

I was indulgent, but Jared seemed to be getting more and more annoyed. He glared at Gina every so often, and she smirked every time he did. This was going to be hard.

_My_ eyes were at Alex all the time. Now and then she met my gaze, but turned around instantly with a sad grimace on her face. She didn't like this either, and I hoped that she was already doubting Cameron's fake explanations.

The day finally ended, and Jared drove me home, as usual.

"You're coming in with me," I told him.

"I was sort of expecting that," Jared said with a weak smile. I hadn't forgotten that he'd promised to tell me where he always was, and he never came back yesterday.

He followed me into the empty house, and I led him to my bedroom. We sat down on our regular spots, me on my chair and him on my bed. Even though the chair was much higher up than the bed, he was still taller than me.

"Tell me," I said.

"What do you want to know?" Jared said.

"Where are you all the time?" I asked impatiently. He sighed.

"Okay, so this is sort of a long story. And I can't make it short, because then you won't get it."

"I'm up for a long one," I pressed. He looked at me with serious eyes.

"Okay, so have you heard the Quileute legends?"

"Sure. I'm guessing that your one of the descendants of that guy who became a wolf and everything," I said. Well, that was one way of making something cool and ancient so casual. "And that Sam and Paul also are."

"Yeah. Well, that's not the only one of the legends that is true," Jared started. "You remember the story of "the cold one"?" I nodded.

"The people that drank blood?"

"Yes. You would call them vampires."

"Ah." Jared looked at me without saying anything for a minute, like he was waiting for something to sink in. Then it hit me. "They're true too?" I gasped.

"Yes," Jared said warily.

"There is… You mean that…" I shook my head to collect my thoughts. "V… vampires?" I stuttered. Jared reached his arms out toward. Before I had the time to see what was coming, he dragged me over to the bed and held me to his side. I snuggled a little bit closer, enjoying the feeling of safety he gave me.

"Are you seriously saying that… vampires – real, blood drinking vampires – exist?"

"Yes," he said softly.

"And they drink… blood?" I asked stupidly.

"Yes, they do."

"H – _Human_ blood?" He waited before he answered;

"Yes."

I bit my lip and felt my head spin. I wasn't able to wrap it around this. Vampires? Like the ones I'd seen so many times in movies or read about in books? They weren't real, they were fiction! Right?

Suddenly my whole body stiffened.

"You're not saying that… that _you're_ a vampire, right?" I didn't even finish the sentence before Jared started to decline.

"No! No, Kim, that's _so_ not what I'm talking about!" he said, and sounded disgusted. I relaxed again. Right. He was a werewolf. That was a completely different thing.

"Sorry," I muttered, for I felt that I'd offended him in some way. Jared tightened his arms around me and spoke into my hair.

"We're the opposite of vampires," he explained. "We're the bloodsu… drinkers only enemies, because we're the only ones who can defeat them."

"How dangerous is a vampire?" I whispered. I felt Jared's body become a bit rigid, but he was still talking.

"For any human they're deadly. Humans can't escape them; they're too fast and strong. For a werewolf, on the other hand, they're not really that big a threat. At least not when we are a whole pack. Like when you were trying to injure my arm, you didn't even get through my skin, and that was when I was in my human form. When I'm a wolf, I can outrun a vampire, and fight him down."

"How…" I started. I had so many questions flying through my mind, but none of them wanted to go together and become one, full sentence. "Wait. Is that what you're doing? Fighting vampires every day?" I asked, my voice growing alert.

"No," Jared said. "We don't." He paused for another minute, and I waited for him to continue. He took a deep breath. "There _are_ vampires very close to La Push," he said.

"Close?"

"Yes. Very close. But… they're different," he said.

"Vampires?" I said, still hung up in the part "vampires very close to La Push". I started panicking. Jared noticed the increase in my breathing-speed and continued quickly.

"They say they're not like the others. That they drink… only animal blood," Jared pressed out. That made me a little calmer.

"But…" I muttered.

"What we're doing when I'm not with you, is running by the borders of La Push. We're the protectors, right?" he said with a husky laugh. I remembered that he'd mentioned that before, but refused to tell me what they were protecting everyone from.

"So… the vampires can't… um… eat people in the reservation?" I said uncertainly. I wasn't sure if "eat" would be the right word to use here. Vampires didn't eat you, did they? Didn't they just drink your blood?

_Just_?

That's funny.

"No, not when we're here," he assured me. This comforted me more than it should. What about all the other people in the world? Did everyone have werewolf-protectors, or was that just us? And if it was only us, was that fair?

"Don't be scared. No vampire will touch _you_," he said into my hair. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach by the sound of his voice, and I couldn't feel scared at all. For a minute I forgot the frightening images of greasy vampires with sharp, white fangs gliding into my neck. Jared always made me like this, made me forget everything dangerous and unpleasant.

I snuggled closer to him, even though our bodies were already squished together in very possible sense. After a few minutes, I felt his hand move to my face and he loosened his arm around me. He turned my face towards his.

He looked at me with an intense but loving expression.

"Kim…" he muttered while he stared into my face.

I felt my own eyes widen. Please, _please_ let this be what I hope it is!

Then Jared bent his head down towards me. He paused when his nose almost touched mine, as if to see how I was reacting to this. There was no part of me that wished to reject him, so I just stared back, trying to tell him with my eyes to hurry up already.

Then his lips were on mine, soft and tender. He removed them for half a second, then they came back, harder than before. I almost lost my balance at the force, but I held myself and kissed him back.

His arms encircled me again and pulled me closer. I let my arms slide around his neck to hold myself up.

At last I had to pull away to breath. He let me go reluctantly, and panted for air a little himself. That made me a little smug. I'd made a werewolf breathless.

"Wow," I gasped before I managed to stop myself. Jared's eyes were wide with excitement before the shifted to… apologetic?

"Kim, I'm so, so, sorry. I didn't mean to –"

"What?" Was he apologizing now? Jared's eyes turned even more worried and he moved a bit away from me. I wanted to move after him, but I was still sort of frozen.

"I'm sorry! I wasn't going to… I mean, I…"

"Stop!" I exclaimed angrily. "What are you doing, apologizing?"

"I –"

"That wasn't a bad thing!" I insisted.

"But you… you didn't…" Jared was lost for words, just staring at me.

"I didn't what?"

"You… you were trying to get me off you, right?" he said uncertainly.

"I… was? I mean, did it… did it seem that way to you?" I asked. Because that really wasn't what I'd been trying to do. I'd been trying to get closer to him, not away from him.

"You weren't?" Jared asked.

"No." I answered, and a smile slowly grew wider on his face.

"Really?"

"Really. Did it seem that way?" I asked again. Jared shook his head, still grinning.

"No, not really," he said sheepishly. "But I thought that might have been what you were doing. I mean, I couldn't be sure, since, you know, I'm so strong and everything," he said and blinked. I rolled my eyes. "But I didn't think of that before after," he added.

"Yeah, well, I need my oxygen," I smiled.

"You're weird that way," he mused. I stuck my tongue out at him, and he chuckled. As I watched his enchanting smile and lit-up eyes, I just couldn't stop myself from thinking that he was way too good for me. What kind of superhot, popular, gorgeous, girl-magnet of a guy would ever want ugly, little, unpopular Kim?

I was boring. I wasn't very good at anything. I wasn't a reader, and music had never held any interest for me. The only thing I did in my free time was hanging out with my two only friends or watching my little sister. And I wasn't even good with her!

And then there was Jared, who was good at anything. He was smart, beautiful, good at sports as far as I knew, he had the coolest friends and could have any girl he wanted. How come he was with _me_?

I'd put the thought of him playing me or pulling a prank on me on a shelf a long time ago. He wouldn't have spent first weeks of trying to make me forgive him, than all this time hanging out with me, and now _kiss_ me (the butterflies in my stomach did fluttered wilder than before at the thought) if it was all for a bet or a prank. He wouldn't do that.

And no one could fake a werewolf, there was absolutely no way of doing that. The memory of the huge, brown-furred, horse-sized wolf with the dark, intelligent eyes that belonged to Jared was still fresh in my mind. That couldn't be faked.

I trusted Jared, but I didn't understand him.

When would he finally realize how dull I was and dump me for someone else?

* * *

**So Kim _still_ doesn't know about the imprinting. **

**Yeah, I've already written the part where he tells her, but things have to happen before I can put it in. **

**But I'm getting to it. **

**Haha, it was so fun to read the reviews where everyone was disgusted by Gina! **

**I just thought it would be a fun thing to write, I mean, Gina being Gina...**

**So, I was just lying in my bed last night and letting my thoughts drift, and then I suddenly thought of something. **

**What do you think about pairing Norman and Carol? **

**I have no idea how I came up with that, because they're so very different. But they both love reading, so... **

**And it would be fun, just to experiment a little. **

**And once again, if you see the tiniest little mistake in my grammar, please tell me. **

**I have to practice for my exams on Friday (hah, how's that for an excuse for writing fanfiction! It's fantastic!). **

**So be a good little reader and tell me =P**


	14. PMS?

**Yeah, so it took me one or to forevers to update, bet here is chapter 14!**

**And I don't own anything. **

* * *

The next morning I had the weird feeling it had all been a dream. Not just the kiss, but everything. I was almost certain that Jared wasn't a werewolf, that he didn't like me, that Cameron didn't exist, that Alex wasn't angry with me and that Jared never talked to me that first time in English.

I felt rotten when relief flushed over me as I realized that it hadn't been a dream. That Jared _did_ know me and _did_ like me and that he actually _was_ a werewolf. And that Cameron _did_ exist and that Alex actually _was_ angry with me. How could I feel happy when Alex was being played and cheated on by the creep Cameron?

So I was pretty cranky when I ate breakfast, and barely noticed that my father was sitting by the table. And when I did, I wasn't even enthusiastic enough to smile and say good morning and be happy that he finally spent some time with his family.

"Hey, Kimberly," dad said when I didn't speak. He had never caught that I never used my whole name. Well, Kimberly was better than Kimmy.

"Hi," I muttered. If I tried to say anything more, I was afraid I'd crack and shout to my whole family that they were welcome to leave me alone whenever they pleased and never open their damned mouths again. I had no reason to be so angry with them, but today everything seemed black.

"Want to do something this weekend, kiddo?" dad asked.

_Maybe, if I was ten years old and you _then_ decided that you wanted to be a part of my life!_ Okay, that wasn't fair. He didn't work _that_ much and I always saw him in the evenings.

"I have plans," I lied. Because, seriously, which sixteen year old girl can honestly say that they _want_ to spend their weekend with their father? No one I know.

"Okay. Let me know," dad said in his annoyingly cheery voice. I had to bite my lip hard to stop myself from shouting that he should shut up and leave me alone.

Wow, I was _really_ crabby today.

As I entered my room and checked the date on my calendar, I understood why.

PMS.

Right.

Premenstrual Syndrome, I chanted in my head. Someone was in for a tough week. _Someone_ meant both me and everyone around me. Poor habitants of La Push. I made a mental note to buy chocolate after school. That was the only thing that helped me through the hard days before my red week.

Jared was waiting for me in his car as always. I didn't make an effort to put on a smile. Might as well let him know what he was in for.

"Hey," he said as I jumped into my seat.

"Hi," I answered. Jared's voice didn't annoy me the way dad's did. It was almost pleasant in comparison. I actually smiled without having to force it. Jared looked at me as he drove out on the road.

"You look… tensed," he noted. That irritated me.

"I'm not!" I snapped. He looked at me, surprised at my sudden outburst. The worry was clear in his eyes.

"Are you angry?" he asked.

"NO!" I barked. He jumped slightly. He frowned and studied me, making me even more annoyed. "Watch the road," I ordered and looked away from him. I knew I was being unfair, but he built up to it. I felt his eyes on me still, but none of us said anything.

The rest of the drive passed in silence, but when he had parked outside the school building, he spoke again.

"Are you angry with me?" he asked in a small voice.

"I am now," I muttered. I took my book bag from the floor, but he wrenched it out of my hands. I growled.

"Give it to me!" I ordered, trying to keep my voice calm. He shook his head and looked into my eyes. His staring made me feel awkward, so I decided to stubbornly step out of the car and leave him here with my books. My hand didn't even make it to the door before he caught my wrist and dragged it so that I had to face him.

"Tell me what's bothering you," he asked softly.

"NOTHING is bothering me," I said slowly, keeping my voice stern.

"I can see that something is. Why won't you tell me?"

"There's nothing to tell," I argued and tried to wrench my hand free.

"You're really stubborn, you know that?" Jared said with a weak smile.

"And you're really annoying, you know that?" I copied him.

"I'm just trying to make you feel better," he insisted.

"You're hurting my arm!" I hissed, and he let go immediately. I pushed the door open at once, and jumped out before he got to stop me. He was behind me in no time, carrying my bag and rain jacket. I reached for them, but he held them out of my reach. I narrowed my eyes. Didn't he think I was able to carry them myself?

"Are you angry with me?" he repeated. I sighed, controlling the growing, unjustified anger that was rising in me.

"No," I admitted firmly. I glanced up at Jared, and saw that his face broke into a smile. I was surprised to feel happy to see him happy. That eased some of my annoyance, and I took a deep breath to erase the rest of it. I didn't get it all, but I managed to keep it under control till we reached English.

English.

I looked over at Norman, who was paying me no attention at all, and felt sorry for him. He would never know what hit him.

Mr. Leighton strolled into the classroom and threw everything he had in his arms in a huge, messy pile on his desk. Then he turned his sweaty face towards the class. I grimaced. Gross.

He told everyone to go to our partners and keep working on our project.

Wow.

Big surprise there.

I ignored Jared's pout as I brought my chair over to Norman's desk and sat down loudly. Norman smiled weakly, and I forced the corners of my mouth to point just a little bit upwards too.

"Did you finish "The horse and his boy"?" Norman asked. It was an innocent question, and it shouldn't have made me mad. I wouldn't either, if this was a normal day. But now it annoyed me. Didn't he think I was a fast enough reader to finish a book in a day?

"Yes," I snapped. His smile faded quickly, and he looked at me warily.

"What do you think of it?" he asked hesitantly.

"It was… fine," I said. It took a lot of effort to keep my voice calm and fair.

"Okay," Norman said and dragged his books from his bag. He spread all the Narnia-books over his desk. The sound of it annoyed me illimitably. I growled mentally, trying to hold my nonchalant expression. Norman's nervous glance up on me told me that I did not succeed.

The rest of the English class passed slowly. I was counting the seconds the last minutes, and paid no attention to Norman's light babbling in the background. When the bell finally rang, I grabbed my things so hastily that all my books fell out and slid over the floor. I suppressed a desperate scream, thinking it wouldn't be very appropriate in a classroom, and groaned silently instead. Two huge, tan hands reached the floor much faster than mine. If it had been any other person than Jared who did this, it would have annoyed me out of my pants. But now it just made my chest tickle and my whole body warm.

I forgot everything about PMS and unjustified anger, and smiled at Jared as he reached me the now fully packed and closed bag. Jared grinned back.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Great. Welcome back, PMS-monster.

"I'm fine," I snapped. I stalked out, and heard him right behind me. He jogged up next to me and looked at me with worried eyes.

"You're –"

"Can you –" I stopped myself, because I knew I would say something that I would regret later. So I changed midways. "– just not talk about that right now," I asked, my voice calmer now. It almost even sounded pleading. Jared melted and gave me a light squeeze around the shoulders. This also did its job by tearing away some of my anger, and again I smiled.

I was utterly confused, though. My moods changed by the second, and that was very, very uncomfortable. Oh, well, it was worse for those around me.

Gina understood what was going on with me in lunch, so she kept her mouth closed. A smart move, since I would probably have leaped across the table and slapped her – hard – if she started ew-ing whenever Jared touched me today. Instead she kept her eyes on Alex, and clenched her teeth every time Cameron did something that was typical for him.

I had my last lesson with her, which was History. Not a fun subject. But, then again, which subject is really fun?

For the first time I noticed that Norman was in this class too. Huh. I really had been off, hadn't I? I mean, I had probably seen him here, in History, before, but I never made the connection with him here and in English.

I pressed a smile at him, to show that I recognized him, and he smiled weakly back. His eyes looked a little startled. A part of me laughed evilly inside. I'd made him scared.

The crabby teacher stalked in and slammed the door behind him. I'd never really gotten his name right. I had never needed it either – he wasn't a person that you would want to answer to.

I caught a glimpse of a pop quiz he had in his pile of books and papers, and bit my lip. Maybe an escape was on its place here? Pop quizzes really weren't on my top ten want to do list today. As soon as the class was settled, I jumped up and headed for the teacher's desk. I avoided Gina's gaze, pretty sure she'd see through my plans and tell me that I was a traitor.

"Can I go to the bathroom?" I asked hastily, before he had time to start any lecturing. He nodded, looking annoyed, and I hurried out.

The hallways were empty. I was the only one to skip class today, it seemed. Funny, I'd thought there'd be more. I wasn't the worst rebel in this school. Then again, maybe…

I walked slowly to the bathroom, lingering as long as possible. If I remembered correctly, we usually had those stupid pop quizzes in the first half of the lesson. I could manage to use half an hour in the bathroom.

After twenty minutes I'd grown tired of making grimaces at myself in the mirror, and decided to just gamble a little.

When I stepped out the door, I almost walked straight into someone else.

"Sor…" I started. I didn't get longer than that before I looked up to see the face of the one I'd run into.

Cameron.

* * *

**So, I was clicking sort of randomly through the button-things on the site, and then I got into this story-traffic thing. I thought it was a bit interesting, and I started to look at all the numbers of how many people have read what I'm written and so on. And then I noticed something funny: **

**On the first chapter I had very many visitors, and on the second there was like only a fourth of that number. **

**That was understandable, I mean, about 300 people looked at my story once and thought "Ugh, what a crappy story". I can understand that. **

**And the numbers kept going down until chapter 5 and 6. Then it went from 154 to 162. **

**And on chapter 7 I suddenly had 192 visitors, and then on chapter 8 it went down again, then it went up at chapter 9 and 10 and so on.**

**So I'm just wondering: **

**Is people skipping chapters? **

**I mean, isn't that sort of weird? You won't get it all if you do! **

**So, I thought this was all very illogical, so maybe I misunderstood the visitor-thingy. **

**Does anyone care to explain? **

**Oh, and when you're on it, what's a beta? **

**It can be just me being slow again. It probably is, really. But you don't know me, so I can be as stupid as I want. **

**Hah! **

**Okay, that was the uninteresting part. **

**It took me forever to finish this, and I have no idea why. It wasn't hard or anything, and I had it all sorted out... **

**I guess I was a little too much focused on my exams tomorrow... Ugh. **

**And I'm proud of myself; I've made a plan for what's going to happen in the next chapters. I've recently realized that it's hard to write and think at the same time (most of the time I'm good at multitasking)...**

**I'll be faster to update in later chapters! **

**(I hope...)**

**Oh, and why did I give Kim PMS? **

**Because I was having a really bad day and needed someone to suffer with me. **


	15. Happy Squeals!

**I've got 74 reviews! **

**That's a lot!!!**

**Thank's soooooo incredibly much! **

**I don't own anything...**

* * *

"Never mind," I said, my jaw tensed.

Cameron smirked, and I gagged mentally.

"I'm okay," he assured me in his ugly little voice.

"Too bad," I muttered and made to walk around him. I had only gotten a few steps when he spoke again.

"It was a pretty nasty trick you two pulled on me," he said acidly. I didn't think it through before I turned and glared at him. The words just spilled right out of my mouth.

"And you're one to talk, you gross, little slime ball of a cockroach!" I spat. My feet walked back towards him, and my hand clenched into a fist. A little part of me was surprised, but the bigger, dominant part wanted to hit him so hard that his jaw broke in half. "I feel sorry for you. You're so delusional that it's tragic!"

"How come?" Cameron asked, sounding almost amused.

"You…" I frowned furiously, trying to find the right words. Resented and angry, I resigned. "You just are," I hissed. "And you are gross, and arrogant, and you have no shame, and you are fake and pretending to be something you're not, and you think that you know everything, and you can't mix clothes right, and everybody hates you," I informed him. I felt that I didn't sound as insulting as I was trying to be.

"Is that all?"

"No. You are also despicable."

"Are you done?"

"Yes. Good bye," I said, and almost blushed.

I was surprised to feel the worm's hands on my shoulders, yanking me back. I was slammed into the lockers and Cameron was in front of me, holding me in place. I was too shocked to fight him off.

"And you're a hypocrite," he told me. I frowned, feeling the PMS-rage build up in me again.

"I can _too_ mix my clothes!" I protested angrily.

"Not that," he said impatiently. "_I'm_ the arrogant one?"

"Yes, _you're_ the arrogant one!"

"You are too," he insisted.

"I'm not!"

"Are too."

"You're childish!"

"You are too!"

_I already know that_.

"You're unoriginal," I informed him. He looked a bit puzzled, so I explained. "Have you ever noticed that boys always say "you are too"? Instead of making up their own insult, they just reverse it. It's weird, right?"

"Well… you're annoying!" he accused, sounding very much like a child.

"_And_ you have a lot of mood-swings," I added. The anger disappeared a little when I saw that I was bugging him now.

"You don't have any social antennas," he noted, smug.

"Yes, I do," I insisted.

"You don't."

"How would _you_ know?" I said, my voice dripping with venom. He looked at me smugly, lifting the gross corners of his lips up into a sickening smirk.

"Because you had no idea what I was doing that day on the…"

"Because you were completely empty-headed and stupid and clingy!" I spat. "I thought that was just the way you rolled!"

"So you liked it, then?" he asked. I stared at him dumbly.

"What?" I breathed.

"I asked if you liked it as much as it sounds like you did," he repeated, smirking wider. I was speechless.

"You… I…" I cleared my throat. "I did _not_ like it!"

"Right. I saw you, _Kim_." He said my name like I was his enemy or something. Which I actually was. "When I kissed your friend, I saw how jealous you were –"

"That's called disgust, _Cameron_!" I protested. "But, I guess, if you really can't see the difference, it explains a lot of things!"

"Will you _ever_ stop lying to yourself, Kim?" he asked in a voice that he probably though sounded seductive. It only made me sick. I did a first attempt to push him away, but he leaned all his weight towards me and pressed me harder back.

"Move," I hissed angrily. He didn't budge, just dropped his head down to mine.

"Don't worry, Kim. I like you better than I like Gina," he assured me. I shrieked in anger.

"Stop that! Move!" I ordered. My voice sounded slightly hysterical. His face got even closer to mine, and I realized what he was trying to do. Acting on instincts, I drove my knee upwards and hoped that I hit the right place. Cameron's helpless yelp told me that I had, and he took the tiniest step backwards. I took advantage of it and slapped him hard over his face. I ran off without looking at him again, my only thought to get as far away from him as possible.

When I was far enough away that I felt safe, I leaned against a wall, letting all the excitement and anger drain out of my body.

I felt sort of ragged, and felt the urge to take a shower. I had lots of tiny Cameron-worms over my clothes, and maybe even some in my face. I'd gotten him off me before he touched my lips, luckily. If I hadn't, I wouldn't be able to live with myself for the next hundreds of years, at least.

We really needed a plan to take Cameron down and that soon. _Very_ soon. Alex wouldn't believe me if I told her what happened just now, like she hadn't believed me before and when she actually though Gina tried to steal Cameron from her. Well, she thought that about me, too.

I wanted to slide down the floor and sob helplessly. Oh, how I wanted my best friend back. I really hoped that I'd hurt Cameron with my simple self-defense violence. I wished I'd hurt him worse. I wasn't normally such a violent person, but the anger mixed with PMS made me hormonal and emotional.

I wiped away the tears that had run down my cheeks without my permission, and walked back to my class. The teacher barely acknowledged me when I walked in, he was busy writing something totally uninteresting on the blackboard.

The whole class was talking quietly, no one paying attention to the lecture. I sneaked back to my seat and did my best to avoid Gina's angry expression.

"Well, did you have fun?" she asked sourly.

"Not really," I muttered. Gina studied my face.

"Have you been crying?" she asked.

"Not really," I repeated. I wondered if it really was _that_ obvious. I would have to fix that before I ran into Jared again. He would definitely throw a fit…

"What happened?" Gina demanded, leaning closer to me. I sighed. Knowing I could not avoid telling her the truth, I told her everything that happened. Her face was twisted into disgust when I was finished.

"You didn't even let him kiss you? Seriously, Kim, didn't I tell you her is a –"

"Enough!" I exclaimed, a little bit too loud. The teacher spun towards the class with a death glare, and everyone fell silent.

"Are you paying attention?" he asked in his slimy voice. Some student mumbled a small "yes", but he didn't buy it. He started handing out exercises, and then sat down on is desk, eyening each and every one of us warily. I earned a lot of angry glances from my classmates for ruining the fun, and ignored them easily. I had other things on my mind.

How were we going to convince Alex what kind of air head Cameron was? And at the same time make it as uncomfortable as possible for the little rat? Everything inside of me boiled up in anger when I thought of him, and he deserved as much pain as humanly possible.

Well, not the kind of pain that would get us arrested, I couldn't see how that would be a good idea.

When the bell finally rang, I almost sprinted out of the classroom. I nearly ran right past Jared, and when I saw him I got so ecstatic that I threw my arms around him, squealing like a little kid. I was surprised by my own behavior.

Must be the PMS playing with my mind again.

Jared wrapped his arms around me eagerly, hugging me tighter to him too. Gina huffed next to us, and I pulled back unwillingly. Jared didn't look so happy either.

"You should tell him what happened with you and Cameron," Gina said traitorously.

_Gina!_ I thought urgently. I glared at her, and she smiled sweetly and walked away from us.

"What?" Jared asked instantly.

"Nothing," I muttered, my good moods gone. Maybe I was a hypocrite. My moods swung just as much as Cameron's did, at least right now. I started to walk in the direction of the parking lot.

"What about Cameron?" Jared pressed as he caught up with me.

"I just bumped into him in the hallways," I simply told him, hoping he'd buy it. If I told him the whole story, I was afraid it would lead to murder from one side or another. Then again, maybe that wasn't such a bad idea.

"And?"

"And he was annoying."

He did not leave it with that. He kept bugging me for answers all the way to his car, and then I finally caved.

"Fine, he tried to… I don't know what he tried really, but he's clearly delusional. I mean, he thought that I… _liked_ him," I shuddered.

"What did he do?" Jared asked. I looked at him hesitantly, and then pointed to the car.

"I'll tell you when you get in," I said. He eyed me suspiciously, but did as I said. "And after we get home," I added when we were both buckled in safely. He made a face.

"Kim –"

"Drive," I said through my teeth.

Jared looked at me with his worried expression all the way home. I tried numerous of times to tell him to watch the road, but he didn't listen. He obviously thought this was really bad.

When he pulled in outside my house, he turned to me and locked eyes with me.

"Tell me," he ordered. I moved a little uncomfortably and turned my body a little more towards him, worried for how this would end.

"Can we go inside?" I asked. He nodded a little hesitantly.

I led the way through the house, and we both sat down on my bed, facing each other again.

"Tell me now," he said again. I bit my lip.

"Okay, don't freak out, okay?" I said warily. He didn't answer. "Um… so he tried… to kiss me," I said.

Jared stared at me with empty eyes. I stared back, trying to figure out what he was thinking.

"He what?" he hissed in an urgent voice. I didn't say it again, just looked at him.

Then his whole body started shaking, and his eyes got blurry. His face was tensed and he looked furious. I felt the fright wash over me.

"Jared?" I hiccupped, trying to touch his face. He flinched away from me, and I watched him, confused.

Then I heard a loud howl. It sounded like it was strangely close, and I stupidly took a glance around my room, as if I thought it came from somewhere in here.

It turned out I wasn't so far off after all. In my window, which showed our backyard, I saw a huge, dark silvery creature right outside, gazing right at me.

I stared back in shock, and then the floor was coming towards my face in a strange angle.

* * *

**Guess who the wolf is? **

**Okay, I'm having some trouble figuring out what to do about Cameron. I think I have to get rid of him in the next chapter. I'm getting tired of him. **

**But everything I come up with is just too nice. I'm no good with punishments. **

**So, if you have a good idea, just tell me in a review! **

**Come on, people, this is your chance to spill your guts, pour your hearts out... **

**And I won't kill him. **

**Jared might, though... **

**No, he won't. **

**Kim won't let him, and I won't either. **

**So, review, folks! I'm babysitting this really annoying kid in about thirty minutes. Yeah, I'm as bad as Kim with kids. I thought it was only fair that I wouldn't be the only one to have that flaw, so I gave that to her too. **

**But I'm better at paying attention in class than she is! **

**I guess that's sort of a comfort. **

**But I don't have a Jared... **

**Okay, enough babbling. **


	16. Snap

**I don't own anything.**

* * *

"What the hell were you thinking, Paul?" I heard an angry voice yell.

"I didn't mean for her to –" started an unfamiliar voice, but was cut off by Jared's furious one again.

"She's not exactly used to enormous _werewolves_ showing up in her window!" My eyes popped open in curiosity. I didn't even have time to take in my surroundings before something warm was pressed over my eyes. I tried to shake it off, but it wouldn't budge.

"Go get some clothes on," Jared ordered the other person, Paul, obviously. I stopped struggling. This wasn't something I wanted to see.

"I'll leave," Paul said in a tensed voice. I heard nothing, but Jared removed his hands from my eyes, so I presumed it was okay for me to see again.

My room was empty except for myself and Jared.

"Wha…" I started and sat up – I was lying on my bed, probably placed there when I was sort of out – and looked out the window. It was open, but there was nothing out there that was out of the ordinary.

"It was Paul. He just wanted to make sure I didn't…" he trailed off.

"What?" I asked confused. I was still kind of dazed after the fainting. This seemed to be my only reaction to werewolves, fainting. Not very useful, really. Jared sighed and looked at me warily.

"I guess… I haven't told you _everything _about werewolves," he said bitterly. He sat down next to me and didn't meet my eyes.

"What didn't you tell me?" I urged him. He didn't seem to hear me, because he kept talking in a monotone voice, still staring at the floor.

"I didn't tell you because I was afraid that you wouldn't want to be with me. The others think it's wrong of me. Especially Sam. They think you must know… the dangers," he reeled off.

"The dangers of what?"

"Being with me," he forced out. I stared at him, waiting for an explanation. "I… I was too selfish to tell you."

"You're not selfish," I said automatically. He ignored me again.

"Because I knew what it felt like _not_ to have you. I didn't want to risk losing you again."

"You're not losing me. Can you _please_ just spit it out?" I asked calmly, feeling the PMS-annoyance start to rise in me again.

"But you have the right to know. If you really don't want to be with me, I could let you go. It would be sort of hard, but you… it's not right for me to keep you when you don't know everything. You have to –"

He was babbling now. I grabbed his arm roughly to turn him towards me. He did, but not because of my help. He caught my eyes, making me forget about my anger for one tiny second. He eyed me carefully as I built it up again, and then I spoke.

"Just say it already!" I hissed.

"I'm dangerous, Kim," he blurted out. "I'm not always in control. Sometimes I… I snap, and I… I can hurt those around me. If I get too aggravated I can phase automatically, and attack without meaning it." He paused for a second, studying my expression. I was calm, waiting for him to finish. When he spoke again, his voice was weak and sad. "I could hurt you, Kim."

I felt myself bit my lip. I looked into his big, dark honest eyes. They reflected the pain he felt, the regret and sadness. I relaxed my face again.

"I don't think you could," I said slowly, but determined. Suddenly he looked panicked, and he leaned a bit closer, as if to prove a point.

"It's true," he said, sounding a bit desperate. "It's dangerous for you if I lose my temper. Sam… knows what he's talking about, and I never want to be responsible for hurting you. It kills me inside every time I think that you're in pain, especially if I'm the one to inflict it. I don't know what I –"

"You never hurt me," I said quickly. "You're actually sometimes too careful with me. I'm not made of glass," I added lightly. He scowled at me.

"What about this morning?"

"_What_ about this morning?" I repeated, puzzled.

"'You're hurting my arm'," he copied me poorly.

"Oh," I said, remembering. A sheepish grin grew over my face. "That was just to get you out of my face," I admitted. He frowned.

"What?"

"You were getting sort of annoying, and the only way to make you stop was –"

"You were _pretending_ that I hurt you?" he hissed.

"Well, yeah. Only because you –"

"Don't you _ever_ do that to me again!" he ordered.

"I –"

"Promise me that!" he demanded. I felt the stubbornness take over me again. I didn't want to give in, and I pouted slightly.

"Fine," I said at last. Before he got to say anything else, I added: "How come _I'm_ the one that always have to cave?"

The corners of Jared's lips twitched a little, but it wasn't a complete smile.

"Because you're very often wrong, and I have to lead you in the right direction," he explained.

"I'm never wrong," I muttered. "There's just two different ways of right: Your way, and the best way. The last one is my way."

"Let me guess. Your way is that you get to do whatever you want?"

"That too," I smiled.

"What else?" he asked, almost curious now.

"It's a secret," I said mysteriously, beaming at him. His expression changed, and he looked like a lost dog. I laughed at his puppy eyes, and they twinkled slightly when I did. Then his expression changed again, to bitterness.

"Sometimes I can be unstable. I try my best not to get angry when you're close, because I know what might happen."

"I trust you," I vowed reassuringly to him. He shook his head.

"You trust me now, but if you're too close in… in a wild moment, when I phase due to anger…" he trailed off, eyening me pleadingly. "Please, believe me on this one. It's important that you know what you're in for. Even though it's very unlikely that something bad happens to you, there are always accidents," Jared said sullenly.

"What kind of accidents?" I asked. Wrong question. Jared's body tensed and his eyes turned even sadder than before.

"I'll take you to see Emily sometime. You'll see then," he answered me slowly.

"Who's Emily?" I pressed, regretting it at once. I had a feeling I was forcing him to tell me more than he was comfortable with. "Forget it, I'll wait," I added when I saw Jared's torn expression. He smiled weakly.

"It's okay," he said, sighing. "Emily is Sam's fiancée. She… He lost control once, when she was standing right next to him. She got really hurt, and she was lucky not to be wounded worse."

I swallowed.

"Why did he lose control?"

Jared hesitated for a moment. "You'll have to ask Sam. I'm not sure if he wants everyone to know."

"Sure," I said. An awkward silence followed, and then Jared looked at me again.

"You're not afraid of me, right?"

I shook my head. "Not even close," I smiled. He frowned for a moment, then shrugged it off.

"Good. Because you shouldn't be. I'm in control most of the time, but a few things just make me snap."

_Like Cameron_?

I wanted to ask that, because that was what had made him so angry before. He had been shaking and his face was twisted in anger. It had scared me a bit, though I knew he wouldn't hurt me.

I just nodded. He studied me for a little while and I looked away, feeling self-conscious. Me face got warm and reddened. Jared chuckled a little.

"You're so cute when you do that," he noted. I grimaced and tried to hide my face in my hair, but he stretched out and put it behind my ear. He left his hand where it was, and I couldn't stop myself from looking up.

His face was closer than I thought, and I jumped a little. Then I relaxed and enjoyed the warmth radiating from him. I held my breath so it wouldn't disturb the perfect figure in front of me, and the feeling of his hand on the side of my face…

I didn't even see him lean in, but suddenly his lips were on mine again. I couldn't breathe and was already a bit worn from the fainting. But that didn't mean I pulled away. Instead I dragged myself closer, pulling myself up on his lap. His arms surrounded me, and he held me so tight that I could almost hear my ribs creak between us.

Suddenly he yanked me back way from his body. I panted for air, but tried to cringe closer to him. He held me back, eyening me carefully.

"I'm killing you," he muttered.

"I'm fine," I gasped, struggling against his arms.

He ignored me completely. Or maybe he didn't even notice. "Did I hurt you?" he asked. I shook my head eagerly, hoping he would let me closer if I did. He didn't, though. Instead he frowned unhappily.

"You need to tell me if I hurt you. I explained this, didn't I?" he asked, sounding irritated. I stopped struggling, realizing I'd lost.

"But you didn't hurt me. I liked it," I assured him. He rolled his eyes.

"You couldn't breathe," he reminded me.

"Details," I snorted.

"It's not details! It's important!" he insisted. I sighed.

"Fine. I'm sorry. I promise I'll tell you next time you're suffocating me with your professional kissing-abilities," I vowed. He frowned again, but the left corner of his lips twitched a little. My hopes started to rise again. Maybe he would kiss me one more time?

"You're so strange," he told me.

"You know you love it," I grinned.

He rolled his eyes. "That's the disturbing part," he said. Then he pulled me closer to him and kissed me again, this time much more careful than earlier. But I was happy. I'd gotten my wish fulfilled.

I snapped out of it when I heard the main door open and close. A gasp escaped my lips as I realized that my parents were home.

I started to push against Jared's chest to make him move. He didn't budge, and kept trying to capture my lips with his again. I avoided them sadly.

"You need to leave," I pressed out. He mumbled something unintelligent, muffled by my face. "Seriously! My parents are home, and if they –"

He pulled back instantly, making me jump again. I would just have to get used to him moving so impossibly quickly.

"Can I meet them?" he asked eagerly.

I panicked. "No!" I exclaimed, my eyes widening in shock. He looked at me.

"Why?"

"Because…"

Well, that was actually a very good question…

"Because I'm not ready?" I said. It sounded like a question rather than an answer. Jared frowned a little.

"Okay. Another time, then," he agreed, though he sounded a bit unhappy. "I have patrolling tonight anyway," he added, and his voice sunk even more. He looked at me with his puppy-eyes again, and I reached up to pat his head. I only barely reached it.

Jared lit up a little by my touch, and I smiled at him.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" I asked. He nodded eagerly, now grinning like a little kid who just got the biggest bag of candy he could ever imagine.

"Looking forward to it," he said, and then kissed my forehead fast and a bit roughly. But his lips were soft, so I got dizzy anyway. When I focused again, he was already out my window, and I only just saw a movement in the bushes outside my house.

I nearly floated into the kitchen, where my parents had reached to arrive. I sat down on my chair with a dreamy look on my face, causing my parents to throw me a puzzled glance each. I rarely got out of my room to talk to them at all when they came home, so I guess they had their right to be a little surprised.

"Hi honey," my father said after a few silent seconds. "How was your day?"

"Perfect," I said. He looked at me curiously. Mum also took a second glance at me while she stuffed all the groceries in their respectful places.

"Good." Dad hesitated before he asked; "So, what about this weekend?"

I expected the anger to flow aver me again, but it didn't. So I managed to answer him politely.

"I'll look into it," I promised.

_Translation: Need to make plans this weekend_.

Mum took advantage of my good moods and shot in:

"Can you watch Gretchen tomorrow? We're going to this work-dinner thing, and I don't have time to get a baby-sitter."

Normally I would have asked "what's in it for me" and not give up till I had a reasonable salary. But today I just said "sure" in my dazed voice and smiled goofily.

"Okay," mum said, sounding amazed. I smiled again, and stumbled my way back to my room. I grabbed my iPod of my desk and sat down in the middle of my bed. I found the cheesiest and fluffiest song on it and listened to the words and melody that I had once hated. Now that I understood it better, it was like it described my life completely.

Someone knocked my door twice and came in. Usually it bothered me that no one waited for me to answer, but now I just smiled at my mum as she came to sit next to me on my bed. I dragged out the plugs of my ears and gave her my full attention.

"Who is it?" she demanded.

I was confused for a second, but then I understood. "I have no idea. I just always had it on my list, but I never really got it before now," I mused.

"Not the song," mum said impatiently. "Who's the boy?"

I froze. "Huh?"

"The boy, Kimmy. I recognize that expression. I've had it myself, and so have my little sister and your cousin. Who's the boy?"

"No one," I said hopefully. I should have known my own mother better. She never gave in.

"Nice try, Kim," she said darkly.

"It's just… do we really have to talk about this?"

"Is it the guy in the car?"

"Sort of. But, mum, I –"

"And on the mall?"

"Yes, but –"

"How old is he?"

"I… huh?"

"How old is he?"

"Same as me," I answered. Who was mum to talk about ages? Dad was nine years older than her. _Nine_.

"He looks older," mum accused.

"He's just tall. Look, mum, none of my friends ever talk to their mum about boys –"

"What's his name?" mum kept asking. I sighed, resigning.

"Jared," I answered.

"Last name?"

"Gray," I answered before even having to think about it. Everything about him was just automatically imprinted in my mind.

"Has he kissed you?" mum asked directly. I felt myself blush and wasn't able to answer. "Right," mum said, like my reaction had proved it all. But I didn't protest. "How long has this been going on?"

"Um…" I started counting in my head.

_Stupid, Kim! Don't tell her the truth_!

"Just a week or so," I squeaked. What, was I supposed to tell her all about him abandoning me and hurting me and… the list just went on and on.

"I must say, Kim, that I didn't think this of you."

I was confused. "What?"

"Falling in love," mum accused. "It's just not like you."

"I'm… sorry?" I said, frowning. Mum laughed a short laugh.

"It's not that, Kimmy," she said. She stretched out her hand to pat my head. "But you're growing up, and I thought you would wait a few years. When I saw that guy at the mall, I half expected to be seeing more of him. When that didn't happen, I just forgot it. And when I saw him in the car and talked to you about it, I just got the impression that he was your friend or something, so I didn't worry."

What was I supposed to say when she came to me with all her sex-talk? I'd told her again and again that it wasn't like that and that he was my only my friend.

"He was at the time," I admitted shyly. Mum smiled warmly, making me blush. Why was I having this conversation with her again?

Mum studied me for a minute, getting that famous "I wish you were still five years old"-look parents are famous for.

_Get over it, mum. I'm growing up_.

She shook her head sadly and left my room with a small smile on her face. I sat frozen for a couple of minutes, trying to remember where my dreamy moods went.

When I couldn't find them, I gave in and did some homework instead.

* * *

**This was longer, but I decided to use the end of it in chapter 17 instead. And ending it here just seemed more natural, anyway. **

**Okay, so I'm still a little undecided on what to do with Cameron. Many people want me to kill him... Didn't know there was so many violent authors here! **

**But come on, this is your chance to secure that he gets what he deserves! I'm not sure you'll be happy with what I've come up with, because it's definitely things he'll live happily through. Like Alex seeing him with a random girl and breaks up with him, but he's not the guy to mourn. He would move on quickly, I think. **

**So I thought about making him undatable. **

**Maybe fake herpes is the thing... **

**I need help! Anything (other than murder-plans) will do! **


	17. Doubt

**

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**

So, yeah, I was in a writing modus today, so here's chapter 17.

**I don't own anything. **

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I pushed the manuscript for our presentation in English into my bag once the bell rang, signaling that our first lesson for the day was over. I sent Norman a quick smile.

"See you tomorrow," I said, and he smiled back, nodding. I skipped over to Jared and Carol. Carol was going on and on about all the books she'd read. I was tempted to remind them that the deadline was tomorrow, but decided not to rub it in their faces. Jared grabbed me once I was in his reach, and pulled me closer.

"Get me out of here," he hissed desperately in my ear. I laughed.

"Ready to go?" I asked. He nodded eagerly and got up in a swift move. Carol looked a little disappointed, but smiled politely at me. We were out of the classroom before she even reached to gather her things, much thanks to Jared hauling me with him in an intense speed.

"That horrible?" I asked, smiling.

"Worse," he answered with a grimace.

"Be brave, soldier," I said, stealing Gina's expression once again.

"You're one to talk, who gets the smartest kid in class," he accused, scowling mockingly.

"Hey! I have worked my butt off for this thing! Don't come here and insinuate that he has done all the work!" I faked the offended tone. Jared chuckled, though he glanced at me first as if to see if I was serious. That boy was seriously overdoing the worrying.

"But, honestly. Carol is the most annoying person I've ever met. She's always making fun of someone, gossiping… It makes me sick."

"Poor little puppy," I said, making a face. Jared poked my side, making me jump. He laughed at my reaction.

"It's not my fault that I'm ticklish," I defended myself.

"I'm not blaming you," he said quickly. "It's actually quite fun."

I shot him a warning glare, which he shrugged off. "I found out what to do about Cameron," Jared said. I gasped and looked at him.

"Did you?" I asked eagerly. He nodded smugly.

"I can rip his head off –"

"Jared!"

"It's not that –"

"Be serious," I scolded. Jared pouted a little, but caved under my narrowed eyes.

"Okay, what about a good, old-fashioned beating –"

"No."

"But –"

"No!"

"I won't kill him, just –"

"I said no. You won't hurt him, not that way," I said. I felt rotten; it was almost like I was protecting the little rat. But we couldn't do anything that would get us arrested.

"Just a little?" Jared pleaded.

"You can ask Alex after we've shown her what he is," I answered. Jared grinned in agreement, pleased with the compromise. He grabbed my bag from my hands, and I didn't even protest. I knew from experience that I wouldn't win that argument.

"So, when can I meet your parents?" Jared asked cheerfully.

"Not yet," I answered hesitantly. I didn't want him to meet my parents. It would be awkward and stupid, and I would be crimson read all the time and just want to sink into the ground.

"Why?"

"Because…" How come I never had any good answers to this question? "I'm not ready?" I went with again. Jared snorted.

"Right," he said. I crossed my arms.

"Well Mr. Know-it-all, what is the real reason?" I asked. Jared suddenly got serious again, and he looked down at me with honest eyes. He stopped walking, and so did I. "What?" I asked, for it looked like I had insulted him or something.

"What is the real reason?" he copied me. It took me a few seconds to understand that he was asking me now.

"I…" It was even harder to find an excuse when he was scrutinizing me with his eyes like this. I stuttered stupidly a little longer, before I breathed out; "I'm not sure."

Jared kept staring at me for a minute.

"Why don't you want me to meet them, Kim?" he asked again.

"I don't know," I said again. "It's just… weird."

"Why?"

"Because it is," I told him.

"You're not… embarrassed by me or something?" he asked, sounding very plagued by this idea.

"No!" I exclaimed at once. "Of course not, Jared! It's just weird, because my parents are… well, they're my parents, and you're… you're _Jared_," I said, throwing my arms in the air. He obviously didn't think this was a valid reason, so I tried again. "Mum is sort of strict. She has her ideas of how things should be, and when she has first made up her mind, it's impossible to change it for her. And my dad… well, he… he's just a regular dad. You know, he still thinks of me as a kid."

"And you think they won't approve of me?" Jared asked sullenly.

"I think they'll love you. It's just that… it will be weird. Like awkward. Like… no one will know what to say or how to act. And then my mum will start asking all these direct questions that makes everyone embarrassed but she won't give in till she knows exactly what the answer is. And my dad won't even know what he should think, and then he'll just plump out with something stupid and embarrassing, and then –"

Jared put his finger over my mouth to stop my babbling, and I looked at him with wide eyes. He had to understand that I was not ashamed of being seen with him. In fact, it should be exactly the opposite. Once again the question of why he even bothered being with me floated to the surface.

"That's just the first meeting. After that it will be completely normal," he assured me. I pouted slightly. "So," Jared said, suddenly cheery again. Maybe he had PMS-mood swings too.

_Sometimes you are so far off, Kim_.

"When can I meet them?" he asked again. I hesitated, but didn't want him to think I was embarrassed of him again.

"Tonight? I'm watching Gretchen. You can be there to, and say hello before my parents leave for dinner," I suggested. "If you're not patrolling or something," I added, remembering.

He smiled and shook his head. "I can come. Paul owes me one, anyway."

"Why?" I asked, not sure if I wanted to know the answer. I had no idea what guys liked to do in their free time, but I suspected it often involved gambling and betting.

"I'll tell you later. It's been almost a minute since the bell rang," he noted.

I panicked. "What?"

"The bell –"

I wrenched my bag out of his hold and started running through the empty corridors. I heard his low chuckle behind me, and called over my shoulder;

"See you later!"

I burst through the door in Spanish class, forgetting all about knocking and waiting for an answer. I felt myself blush, and avoided eye-contact with any of my class-mates or the surprised teacher in front of the room.

I slid down on my chair, still crimson read and embarrassed to the point of no return. I glanced up at Alex, and found her staring at me. She looked away at once, hiding her face behind her curly hair. I think she missed me too. At least a little, I told myself.

She would, wouldn't she? Maybe she sensed that I'd been telling the truth. Or maybe she was just sad that I'd changed so much, and Gina too. But she must have thought something was wrong. I mean, it wasn't natural that your best friends suddenly turned on you and tried to steal your boyfriend.

When Spanish finished, I hurried after Alex in the hallway. She threw me one short glance, and her eyes were sad.

"What is it?" she asked in an angry voice that didn't match her face.

"What do you think it is?" I asked before I could hold myself. I quickly added: "I just want to explain what happened with Gina and Cameron."

Alex didn't meet my eyes. "I know what happened," she almost whispered.

"And what was that?"

"Gina tricked him and when he wasn't paying attention, she attacked him," Alex answered me. He voice was uncertain, like she felt she was telling a lie. She still held her gaze steadily on the ground.

"Do you _really_ think that's what happened?" I asked.

"Cameron said that –"

"He said that I _flirted_ with him too, and believe me, I would _never_ have done that. I think he's gross, and he's also playing you, Alex," I told her. I regretted my directness at once, as I saw the pain flickering across Alex's face. "Sorry, it's just –"

"What's your version of what happened with Gina and Cameron?" Alex interrupted me. I grimaced. She wouldn't like the truth very much either.

"Okay, so… we were pretty desperate to show you what kind of jerk he is, so we thought that if you saw him putting a hand on Gina, you would believe me and my story and everything. The true story," I started. Alex frowned a little, but didn't stop me. "So I went in to you to linger a little, so Gina would have time to build up to it. I _thought_ it was a waterproof plan, but… it wasn't really, because you know Gina. She's almost worse with boys than _you_ are. I mean, she was supposed to fight him, so there would be no doubt, but she actually _liked_ the kiss. I mean, seriously, ew." I was babbling by now, and realized that this didn't sound very believable. I paused to look at Alex's reaction.

Her eyes were doubtful and her face had an inscrutable expression. She looked up when I did, and she looked completely lost and confused. I felt a wave of warmth flow from me to her, because it made me sad to see her like this.

"You believe me, right?" I asked in a wary voice. Alex shook her head slowly from side to side, and I started panicking.

"I don't know," she whispered. I felt relieved. She didn't quite believe me yet, but I had made her doubt Cameron's explanation. That was one step closer, right? "I don't know who to believe," she said, and her voice cracked. Before I knew it, she was sprinting through the corridor, dodging the students neatly. I saw the door to the closest girls' bathroom open and close.

I felt a big lump in my throat. I'd made her cry.

"Are you okay?" said a voice in my ear. I jumped, and turned to glare at Jared.

"Why do you keep doing that?" I demanded. He shrugged smugly, but then turned the attention back to me.

"How are you?"

"I'm fine. I think she's finally starting to believe me. Or, to consider it, at least," I told him.

"Does that mean that I'm allowed to beat him –"

"No!" I cut him off. "You're not, okay?"

"Fine," he said, and pouted slightly.

"What's with boys and violence…" I muttered.

"And what's with girls and stopping it," he answered me. I shot him a short glare, and he smiled his heartbreaking smile at me, making me melt into nothing.

"I was just thinking," Gina said when we sat by the lunch table.

"Don't hurt yourself," Jared muttered under his breath. Gina glared at him, and I drove my elbow into his arm.

"I was thinking," Gina started again, emphasizing each word. "Why didn't I just wear a recorder or something when we tried to make Alex see me and Cameron? It would have been much easier, and he pretty much spilled everything out when she wasn't listening."

"That's actually pretty smart," I told her. Jared looked annoyed, but agreed.

"What, do you want to do it again?" Jared asked skeptically. I shushed him.

"Don't give her any ideas," I hissed.

"Funny," Gina said acidly, and I smiled sweetly at her. "But we could use it some other way. Didn't you say he came up to you when he saw you alone in the hallway?"

Before I reached to answer, Jared started acting all protective again.

"She's not doing that again," he said immediately, dragging me closer to his side. I tried to push myself away to look at his face.

"It's okay, Jared," I said. He didn't let go, and I felt his body was still stubbornly tensed.

"Jeez, your boyfriend is sort of controlling, Kimmy," Gina said, a smirk in her voice. I rolled my eyes at her.

"He's just being stupid. It's a good plan, Jared," I said, making my voice a bit softer. Right then the bell rang again, signaling it was time for us to get back to class. Jared didn't let go of me all the way, as if he was afraid I'd run off and find Cameron if he didn't held me tightly enough.

"You know this is getting out of hand?" I asked him when he insisted on following me to my desk in Biology. He shrugged a little, and almost placed me himself down at my chair. "We'll have to talk about your overprotective nature, Jared," I told him.

"What about it?" he asked blankly.

I rolled my eyes. "It's too overprotective."

"Not for my taste," he argued.

"Get to class, Jared." He hesitated a little, looking at me with a doubtful expression. "I won't die. Or go find Cameron. I don't have a recorder, so it's pretty much useless, right?"

He nodded, pleased. "And don't go to the bathroom either," he called over his shoulder when he started to walk. A few students shot me curious glances, and I blushed and looked down at my desk.

I cursed my own blush.

How come I was always so easily embarrassed?

_Jared likes it_, my mind chanted at me. I instantly changed my opinion.

I loved my blush.

* * *

**Still undecided when it comes to Cameron. I can't seem to shake off the idea of giving him fake herpes, though.. **

**No, I won't do that. Too complicated. **

**The reviews I got said pretty much "whatever, if it involves pain". **

**See, that's not very helpful. **

**I considered having Alex just figuring out by her own that Cameron was lying, something that probably would have happened in real life, seeing that (as pointed out by cklovewinter (sorry, wrote wrong name first)) Alex has been friends with Gina and Kim since she was a kid. But it just wasn't interesting enough.. **

**So I want to make a scene with the whole "reveal what kind of jerk Cameron really is"-thingy. But I can't hurt Alex either, so I'm a bit torn here. **

**Ugh, I think I'll have to sleep on it. **

**Anyway, I'll always love a review. Thanks to everyone that have reviewed before, you're really just so incredibly amazing. **

**If you didn't review, this thing would still have been a one shot and now it's like... seventeen chapter. Yikes. **

**I've got 88 reviews! That's 88! **

**That's almost a hundred! **

**And that's A LOT! **


	18. Phasing

**Chapter 18 (wow, _18_... I think that's a lot...)**

**I don't own anything. (naturally.)**

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"This is going to be _so_ weird," I sighed when I heard the main door open. That meant my parents were home. And that meant it was time for Jared so introduce himself.

Jared squeezed my shoulder a bit, reassuringly.

"It will be fine," he promised.

"That's what _you_ think," I growled. He chuckled a little, but didn't argue with me any further. For some reason that annoyed me.

Jared stood up from the bed, bringing me with him. I was starting to feel a little like baggage, being dragged and pushed around. But, I guess, as long as it was Jared, I was okay with it.

Jared led the way to the kitchen, and we reached it at the same time as mum did. She froze for a second, the grocery bags dangling lively from her hands. She collected herself and pressed out a "hi".

"Hey," I said, already feeling stupid. "Um… so this is Jared," I told her awkwardly. She nodded and shipped the bags over to the table, where she dropped them all randomly. She turned to study Jared. I glanced up at him, and he smiled confidently at my mum.

Dad came tumbling up the stairs, not even noticing Jared at first. When he did, he looked from me to Jared with a bewildered expression.

"Hi. I'm Jared," Jared introduced himself. Could this be any weirder? I felt the urge to just leap through the closest window and run away from here.

"Okay," dad said hesitantly.

"Um…" I stuttered. "Is it okay if Jared stays with me tonight? When you're out?" I asked. Dad suddenly looked alert, his eyes widening and mouth opening to protest. Mum beat him.

"Sure," she said quickly, eyening my dad carefully. "That way you won't get lonely," she said cheerfully. Dad opened his mouth and closed it again. He looked a little like a gaping fish.

"Okay," I said, still a little nervous. Right then Gretchen came running into the kitchen, singing loudly.

"Jellyfish, jellyfish, living in the o –"

She stopped instantly when she saw Jared. She opened her mouth in a little gasp, and her eyes went wide with surprise. She stared at him for about three seconds, and then she walked over to mum, wrapping her little arms around her legs.

Mum laughed softly.

"You're up for a rough night," she said to Jared. I couldn't tell if she was joking or not, but Jared laughed his perfect, husky laugh. I saw my dad getting even more alert to this, and in the corner of my eye I noticed him jerk a little closer to us.

"Okay," I repeated. "We'll… be in my room." I grabbed the sleeve of Jared's t-shirt, knowing it would only look ridiculous to try and wrap my hand around his huge, muscular arm, and tugged it lightly. He responded at once, coming with me willingly.

I threw myself over my bed once we got in, and he sat down next to me.

"I survived!" I gasped dramatically, throwing my hands out. His hand captured one of mine instantly, holding it between his. I felt my whole body tickle at his touch, and smiled widely.

"Told you so," he said, smiling.

I frowned. "Fine. You were right."

"I usually am," he grinned.

I rolled my eyes. "Don't let it get to your head."

He didn't come up with another smart comment. He looked a little distant, so I waved my free hand in front of his face.

"Earth to Jared," I called. He shushed me.

"I'm listening to what your parents are saying," he said before I had the time to come with an unhappy response. Right. Werewolf senses. I closed my mouth immediately, eyening him warily.

"What are they saying?" I whispered.

He didn't answer at once, but smiled sheepishly. "Your dad thinks I'm too old for you," he told me. I rolled my eyes. "And that he doesn't want me around you."

"Too bad," I muttered.

"That's what I thought," he winked. "And your mum is trying to convince him that "it's not like that"." Jared chuckled a little. I felt myself blush. That was my words, from the sex talk. Was dad really worried about that?

"What are they saying now?" I asked.

"Your mum says it's not necessary to throw me out and… your dad thinks she's being too… trustful and naïve. I don't think he likes me very much. He thinks that I will hurt you," he said with a frown. His body tensed a little too, and I patted his arm.

"Don't listen to them, then," I said. He smiled a small smile.

"I'm in control," he assured me.

"I know that," I said hurriedly, not wanting him to think I didn't trust him. He dragged me up from my lying position and pulled me onto his lap.

"You're so weird," he said into my ear. I giggled a little, cradling closer to him.

"You're weirder," I told him playfully.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked lightly.

"Yes," I answered in a determined voice.

"Fine," he said. Then he slid one of his hands to my side. I squirmed away, gasping, when I realized what he was doing.

"Okay, okay! Don't… fine, I'm weirder!" I said panicky. I tried to move my body out of his reach, but he took my waist and pulled me back down. There was no point in struggling, so I didn't.

"Good," he said in my ear.

I smiled. "You know, I feel like I've lost my talents, here," I told him. He made a curious little sound, signaling for me to continue. "Before I won every discussion I ever had. And then _you_ come along, and I never win anything," I said, sounding hopeless. He laughed.

"Poor little thing," he mocked. I freed my hand and slapped his head.

"Be a good puppy," I told him rigidly.

"What's about all these dog-comments?" he complained.

"They suit you," I giggled. He groaned, but didn't try to tickle me again.

* * *

"You're as bad with kids as I am," I giggled at Jared. He was looking doubtfully at my little sister, trying to figure out what to do about her complaining about the food being too warm. "Actually, you're worse," I clarified.

Jared shot me a desperate glance, and stuffed the fork into my hand.

"You do it then," he said roughly. I rolled my eyes and forced the fork into Gretchen's mouth, ignoring her screams.

"Aren't you hurting her?" Jared asked hesitantly.

I shook my head. "She's just being a baby," I explained. "I don't usually feed her at all. She's just acting like this because you're here."

"Should I go?"

"No, she'll stop soon enough," I assured him, a little panicked by the idea of him leaving me.

I got the rest of Gretchen's dinner into her mouth and then urged her into the living room so she could watch some TV. When I got back into the kitchen, Jared looked at me with pleading eyes.

I stopped walking instantly.

"What?" I asked suspiciously.

"Don't hate me," he asked.

"I'll never hate you. What's up?"

"I'm sorry," he said. "But I sort of have to leave."

"Leave?"

"Yeah."

"What, patrolling?"

"Sort of."

I was silent for a minute, just scrutinizing him. He got a bit nervous under my gaze, but kept up the apologetic expression.

"I won't hate you if you tell me what you're doing," I told him. He grimaced slightly.

"You just said that you'd never hate me," he reminded me hopefully.

"I'm backing out. What's up?" I repeated.

He moved uncomfortably, and answered me reluctantly. "We… do you know Embry?" he asked. I nodded. I'd seen Embry before, but again, that was practically the same thing. "Well, he phased."

My eyes widened. "He… became a werewolf?" I asked. Jared nodded. "Why?" Jared shrugged.

"But we knew that it would happen soon. I need to get out and… help him. It's sort of weird in the beginning. No, it's actually very scary. The most terrifying thing I've ever experienced, what with the voices and everything –" He stopped mid-sentence, his eyes alert.

"Voices? You hear voices?" I asked, annoyed, because I already knew he wouldn't tell me.

"I have to go," Jared said urgently. He was next to me immediately, gathering me in his arms.

"Wait, Jared –" I said, pushing against him. He hugged me short and hard, then let go of me abruptly.

"I'll tell you later," he assured me.

"Promise?"

"Promise." And with that he kissed my forehead once, and then he was gone. I sighed and went back to Gretchen in the living room. She was watching SpongeBob Squearepants, the show that I hated the most in this world. But I bit my lip and watched it with her, until the phone rang.

"Go get it," Gretchen ordered me. I got up, walking slowly to where the wireless phone was.

"Spoiled brat," I muttered so she couldn't hear it. I picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi, it's Stacy," said a childish voice. I recognized the name to belong to one of Gretchen's little friends.

"Hey, Stacy," I said, trying to sound nice.

"Is Gretchen there?" she asked. I told her yes and gave Gretchen the phone. After a few childish words into the phone, Gretchen hung up and gave me the phone.

"You have to take me to Stacy's," she told me.

"Wha… now?" I asked, glancing up at the clock on the wall. It wasn't that late. Mum would have let her, but mum had a car.

"Yes," Gretchen said firmly. She slid down of the chair and ran downstairs. I groaned, turned off the TV and came after her.

It was raining, naturally. My sneakers were soaked after two steps, and my rain jacket would be too by the time I got home. Gretchen was jumping into all the dams she could find, and her jeans were dark and heavy with water already.

Well, it didn't matter. She could borrow something from Stacy.

Gretchen had started singing that annoying song of hers again, and she sang it while she jumped from pond to pond, in time with her strides.

"Jellyfish, jellyfish, living in the ocean! Jellyfish, jellyfish –" She took a long stride, landing in the middle of a huge dam. "SPLAT! The jellyfish is dead." She finished her song. She took a short theatrical break, and then she began it again.

I was close to exploding when we finally arrived at Stacy's house, and I pushed Gretchen inside and left instantly.

The way back felt even longer than before. For some reason, I didn't feel safe walking out alone. It wasn't dark or anything, but still.

I tried to find something to get the fears out of my mind. Jared was the only one I could think of that lifted my moods. But now that I was alone, I was once again haunted by the question of why he wanted to be with me. I'd written off the explanation of it being a joke – I mean, get real. So I didn't have an answer to it.

And I still didn't feel he was being completely honest with me. Or, he was being honest, but he didn't tell me everything. Like today, when he'd said something about werewolves and voices. Did they hear voices? What kind of voices would that be?

And he didn't even want to tell me about Embry. I realized that he'd never really explained how you become a werewolf. I'd asked the question before, but he'd only given me a very vague answer to it. He said it was scary. Terrifying, was his word for it. Why hadn't he told me about it sooner? I told him everything – he forced me to.

I suddenly heard a loud howl from the forest. I jumped and looked around frantically. Both sides of the road were covered with trees and dark bushes, and I couldn't tell from which side it had come from.

It had to be the werewolves. They were with Embry, telling him what had happened and everything. No need to worry.

I had just calmed myself down when something big suddenly leaped out in front of me. I recognized it by its immense size, which could have made anyone mistake it for a bear. But I knew what it was. It was a werewolf.

Only it was so unlike the ones I'd seen before. It had light grey fur with black areas on it, and it was sneering at me. I realized, terrified, that it was about to attack. Its eyes were full of rage, and its body was shaking vigorously.

I was frozen, staring in shock and bewilderment. Then I heard a different sneer, and a brown, familiar figure was in front of me, crouching protectively.

I staggered backwards and stumbled in my own feet. I felt the wet pavement touch my palms. My arms trembled under my weight. I tried hard to stay conscious, but my vision quickly started to fade. Everything blackened before I even remembered hitting the ground.

* * *

**Okay, so there was no Cameron in this chapter. **

**But thanks for all the good ideas for what to do about him! I'll definitely use some of them. **

**So, 18 chapters... I hadn't planned for it to get this long. Not at all... And I still have no idea of how long it will get. **

**Because I was planning on getting rid of Cameron in chapter 15 or something, maybe even before that, but then I got all these ideas, and I wanted them all to fit in...**

**So. **

**Keep the reviews coming, you have no idea how glad I get when I read them. Like today, I'd been walking for three hours in the rain (long story), I was soaking wet and cold, and I got home and saw that I had three new reviews! After that I was no longer annoyed with my friend, who was the one to force me outside in thsi weather.... **


	19. Fainting again

**Chapter 19, and I don't own anything. **

* * *

"Kim? Kim, can you hear me?" asked a familiar voice.

"Shh. She's ok, calm down, Jared." This voice was not familiar. It was a woman's voice, I heard. Who could that be?

"Are you sure?"

"She just fainted, she'll live."

I felt a small pressure on my hand at these words. Fainted. Had I fainted, again? This was almost getting embarrassing. I should be used to werewolves by now, and not keep getting unconscious every time they caught me by a surprise.

My eyes flickered open by the next squeeze on my hand. I relieved gasp came from someone next to me, and he shifted so that his face was over mine.

"Kim?" he asked, worried.

"I'm fine," I said automatically. Jared carefully lifted me up into a sitting position, and I realized that I didn't know where I was. I found myself on a brown coach, and the walls were painted in a sharp, but warm red color. The walls were filled with pictures of landscapes and shelves filled with books. "Where am I?" I asked, facing Jared again. Another human figure moved in the corner of my eye, and I turned to see who it was.

I almost gasped in shock. I bit my lip to restrain it, but my eyes widened in the shock of what I was seeing.

I was speechless for a few seconds, then I pressed out, trying to sound polite: "Are you Emily?"

The woman, who looked like she was a few years older than me, smiled warmly at me. Or, one half of her face was smiling. The other corner of her lips were pulled down in an eternal grimace by one of three long, red scars that went right over one side of her face.

"Yes," she said, her voice soft and melodic. "And you're Kim?" she asked. I nodded. She took my hand from over the couch, smiling a bit ruefully at me. "Nice to finally meet you," she said.

"Okay," I said hesitantly. I cursed myself mentally for sounding so impolite. I tried to smile to make up for my rude behavior.

"Are you okay, Kim?" Jared asked, concerned and impatient.

"Yes, I said I'm fine," I answered him vaguely. He nudged my shoulder to get my attention again, and I dragged my eyes away from Emily's face.

"Are you sure?"

"_Yes_," I told him, annoyed. He never believed me.

"Are you hungry, Kim?" Emily asked.

"Um… not really," I answered her.

"Can I get you some water or something? You must be a little dizzy from all this," she added with a chiming laugh. I nodded, and she left the room, walking elegantly over the floor.

"What happened?" I asked Jared. He sat up on the couch, dragging me onto his lap while his did. I leaned into his chest, enjoying the safe feeling I got now. He wrapped his arms tightly around me.

"It was Embry. The grey one. He wasn't in control. No one is in the beginning, and he was scared too. You were the first human he ran into, and his natural reaction there and then was to attack." Jared explained softly.

"Why?" I whispered, remembering how afraid I'd been.

"It's hard to explain. He was just… he was so angry, so uncontrolled that nothing made real sense to him. He didn't listen to us, and when he bumped into you, he was… when he felt the way he did, attack was the only reasonable solution for him. I can't explain it," Jared said, sounding a little annoyed with his own defeat.

"It's okay," I assured him.

"Are you sure you're –"

"Yes!" I cut him off angrily. Right then Emily came with a glass of water to me. She handed it to me, and then turned to Jared.

"Sam is expecting you to come back out," she told him. His only response was to tighten his hold on me. I was in the process of taking a sip of my glass, and the water waved over the edge, hitting my already wet shirt.

"It's okay, Jared," I told him, holding the glass in a safe distant from me as I spoke. "I'm okay. I promise."

He didn't look convinced, so Emily helped.

"Sam won't be happy if you don't come," she told him.

"I don't care," Jared simply said. I sighed heavily.

"Come on, don't you have a little trust in me?" I asked playfully.

"You know I –"

"I know. But you should go. I'll live," I assured him.

"You'd better," he warned. I giggled a little when I felt him kiss the top of my head.

"Go," I said again, trying to push his arm away.

"Come on, Jared. Let the girl breath," Emily said with a small chuckle. Jared loosened his grip instantly, like he was really afraid I wasn't breathing. His reactions were sort of getting out of hand. And I had a feeling it would only get worse, after this. I'd be surprised if I was allowed to be on my own ever again.

"Okay," Jared said unwillingly. "But you stay right here, okay? No wandering off on your own, understand?" he ordered.

"Yes, sir," I muttered. Jared lifted me off his lap and sat me carefully down at the coach again, and walked out with slow, hesitating steps. I sighed in dejection when I heard the door close, and Emily chuckled a little.

"Is he being a little too much for you?" she asked me. I nodded, smiling slightly. "Possessiveness is sort of a werewolf-thing. Believe me, I know. But there's so many good things about it that it doesn't even matter," she told me.

"I guess," I answered her. I tried my best not to stare at her scars, but they were just too… too _big_ to ignore. I could see that she was really beautiful, or had been. The scars pretty much ruined all the pretty features on one side.

Emily smiled sadly.

"You can ask, you know," she said.

I blushed. "I'm sorry. It's just… they're so… vivid. I'm sorry, I'll try not to –"

Emily rolled her eyes. "Just ask me, Kim," she said.

"Okay," I said, biting my lip. "How did you get them?"

"Sam gave them to me," she said lightly. I held my breath. "It was an accident, of course. It happened when he was still new to this werewolf thing. He was the first one, so he had no one to explain to him what happened at first." Her voice was warm and pitiful.

"Is it… should I… Can Jared –" I wasn't sure what I wanted to ask myself, but Emily helped me out by answering anyway.

"I don't think that will happen to you. Of course there is always a risk," she said, weighing her words carefully. "But they're all very controlled now. Sam has seen to that. And he's keeping an eye on them, just in case. So don't worry. You'll be safe," she said and laughed again. I felt myself blushing, embarrassed by my own selfish thoughts. Instead of pitying her I immediately started thinking about myself. Once again I had no idea what to say, so I just plumped out with what seemed to be the safest question.

"How long will they be out there?" I asked.

"I don't think they'll be so long. It sounded like they'd got Embry speaking by now. After he almost attacked you, he sort of got to his senses. He realized what was going on, at least parts of it, and backed away when he saw Jared protecting you."

"Yeah," I said with a nervous laugh. "I guess I can't really blame Jared for being so overprotective. The first thing I do when I'm on my own is running into a young werewolf. I guess I need him to watch me," I mused, trying to make conversation. Emily laughed.

"You'll get used to it. Sam is just the same. It was weird in the beginning, but I'm okay with it now," she assured me. I nodded.

Then the door burst open, and I looked up eagerly, hoping it would be Jared. It wasn't, I realized, disappointed. It was Sam. He was even bigger than Jared where he strode through the tiny living room, his eyes on nothing but Emily. He lifted her from her chair, and I recognized it as something Jared would do.

Emily rolled her eyes at me over Sam's shoulder, and I giggled a little. That made Sam look to me, and he sat down pulling Emily partly onto his lap.

"Hi, Kim," he greeted me with a booming voice. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Did no one have a more original question for me?

"I'm fine," I said.

Sam grimaced. "Sorry about that. It's… not something that happens on a daily basis here or anything," he told me.

"It's okay," I assured him.

"Where are the others?" Emily asked.

"Getting some clothes," Sam said nonchalantly. I remembered Jared's comment when Paul had appeared in my window about clothes. Well, it made sense, didn't it? The clothes couldn't exactly just appear out of thin air.

"Did Jared –"

"Yes. He got a bit annoyed with Paul."

"How's Embry?"

"He's okay now that we calmed him down. He's… confused, of course. I wanted to bring him over now, but he wanted some time alone. Said he wanted to wait till tomorrow instead," Sam explained.

I wished Jared would come back soon. I felt like an intruder now, like I didn't belong here in Emily and Sam's house at all. I almost missed Jared. No, not almost. I _did_ miss him. How strange, he wasn't exactly far away.

I noticed the clock on the wall, and gasped.

"Crap! I have to get Gretchen!" I exclaimed. I was going to jump to my feet, but then the world started spinning again. I slowly sat back down, trying to get rid of the dizziness that had flushed over me.

"Maybe you should wait for Jared. He'll be right here," Sam suggested. I nodded, a bit annoyed with myself. I seriously had to do something about this fainting-thing. And how long had I been out? It had been two hours since I dropped Gretchen off.

It took another three minutes before Jared stormed into the living room. He relaxed when he saw me.

"You have to take me home now," I told him.

"Why?" he asked, as if the though disturbed him somehow.

"Gretchen is probably expecting me to get her soon, and my parents will be home in half an hour," I explained, getting to my feet. I didn't get all dizzy again, but me legs wobbled slightly under me. That was enough for Jared to leap over to me and steady me with his huge hands.

"I'm fine," I said quickly. I heard Emily chuckle quietly as Jared practically steered me outside.

Jared drove both me and Gretchen home, and I rushed Gretchen into her bed at once. Then I joined Jared in the kitchen. None of us said anything at first.

"You're angry with me," he noted in a sad voice.

"No," I disagreed. He studied me for a minute.

"What is it then?" he asked. I shrugged.

"Nothing."

He came over to me, putting his oversized hands on my shoulders. For some reason his touch annoyed me, and I wanted to push them off me. I didn't, knowing it would hurt him.

"You can tell me," he said earnestly.

"I want you to tell me something. About werewolves," I told him. His face froze for a short second, and then he eyed me carefully.

"What do you want to know?" he asked.

"About the voices," I hinted. He looked relieved, actually, and sat down at one of the kitchen chairs. I sat down on the one next to his, because I didn't feel like being on his lap right now. He looked at me a little sullenly when I sat down but started talking.

"When we're in our wolf-forms we can sort of hear… each other's thoughts," he explained awkwardly.

"Hear thoughts?" I asked in disbelief. He nodded.

"It's the way we communicate. Since we can't talk, right?" I nodded, remembering that. "So we're connected in every possible sense when we're wolves. I can see what they're seeing, feel what they're feeling… It's very useful, in any situation."

"Can they hear… _everything_ you think?" I asked. He nodded again. "Like everything?"

"Yes, everything," he said with a husky chuckle.

"Like every-everything?" I asked again.

He frowned in curiosity. "What are you going at?"

"Do you ever think about _me_ when you're a wolf?" I asked seriously.

He smiled. "All the time," he answered.

"So they know all about me?" I asked, not sure if I liked this very much. His expression quickly faded. The smile disappeared and he turned as serious as I was.

"Don't you want them to?" he asked.

"I'm… not sure," I answered hesitantly.

"It's completely normal for us. I know everything about Emily, for example. Like more than I want to. It's harder to hide your thought than you'd imagine. Because it only takes hearing the name, and the mental image appears. Or something that person said that you remember," he explained. I frowned.

"Oh," I said.

"But it's not like we think a lot about what we hear later, you know? We try to give each other some space, and as much privacy as possible," he quickly added.

"Okay," I answered. He smiled at me.

"Are you happy with the answer?" he asked. I nodded. "Good."

Right then the front door opened, and I heard the sound of my mum's high heels walk in.

"That's my cue to leave," he whispered to me with a sad smile.

"You don't have to, yet. They're okay with you being her," I disagreed.

He smiled wider, happy that I wanted him to stay. "I have patrolling, and this is faster," he explained. A short kiss on my forehead later, he was gone. I wondered how fast he really was, even in his human form. And in his wolf form, of course, but I'd bet that was too fast for me to comprehend anyway.

I darted for my room silently, determined to pretend to be asleep so I wouldn't have to talk to my parents. They would think it was strange that I'd taken such an early night, but they'd believe I was asleep.

I had just gotten on my pajama pants when my cell phone started screaming for my attention. I started to look frantically for it around my room. I always managed to lose track of it, and I rarely used it.

I found it and saw that I had one new text message. It contained only one word.

_Sleepover?_

It was from Gina. Sleepover, on a Thursday? I was tempted to text her back "_Have you _met_ my parents_", but instead I stalked into the living room, where dad had settled down in his favorite chair in front of the TV.

"Dad?" I asked in my sweetest and most innocent voice I could manage. He looked up, smiling at me. "Can I sleep over at Gina's tonight?"

He frowned.

"On a school night?"

_What did I say?_

Ah, my brain was back.

Great.

"Please?" I added, making my best puppy-eyes. Dad frowned even further.

"Can't it wait till the weekend?" he asked.

"_Please_?" I repeated.

I kept pleading for another ten minutes, then I gave up. I said good night to my parents and went to bed. I texted Gina back.

_Can't. Dad's being dad again_.

It took her about fifteen seconds to answer.

_Sneak out. Meet you at the playground at one_?

Sneak out.

Oh well, why not?

_See you!_

With that, I climbed under my covers, laying with my eyes wide open. I had two long hours of waiting ahead of me. I quickly put on an alarm that was to go off 00.45 on my cell phone, and then I allowed myself to sleep.

My alarm did its job, and woke me up a good fifteen minutes before I had to be out. I was awake at once, jumping to me feet.

I had actually started to look forward to my sneaking out-plans. It was exciting to walk slowly and paranoid over the wooden floor in my own bedroom, trying to reach the window without making any sounds.

I swallowed hard when I saw how far it was to the ground from here. Sure, it wasn't hard or anything on the ground. It was covered with grass, so hopefully it wouldn't hurt that much to land.

Gulping a bit, I climbed up in the open window. I tried not to look down as I sat with my legs dangling out.

Sure, I'd been sneaking out before, but that was before Gretchen got the spare room. When she'd been sleeping with my parents, it was an easy job to just sneak through the kitchen and out the backdoor, which was _in_ the spare room. I couldn't risk walking right through the room she was sleeping in. If she woke and cried, my parents would be down in an instant.

So I had to take the courage and just jump.

I think my dad once told me that if I ever had to jump, I would have to roll. I could only imagine how hard it would be to land with my legs straight out onto the ground, so I would have to try this rolling-thing.

With my eyes safely closed, I pushed myself out of the safe frame.

It felt like my feet touched the ground immediately. I automatically crouched together and found myself rolled up in a ball on the grass.

It took me a few seconds to understand that I had survived. I suppressed the ecstatic shriek that threatened to slip through my lips at that point, and did a small pirouette instead. Then I felt very eager to get away from my house, and started to run around it and out on the main road.

I was super happy, almost dancing over the pavement. I wasn't sure what I was so happy about. I'd been in a gloomy mood for days, but now, alone in the night, everything seemed so much lighter.

_Lighter_?

Right. It was pitch dark out. But I wasn't afraid. Not like I'd been only earlier this day, when I was alone, and then it wasn't even night.

I giggled a little at the thought. I was so strange.

Then there was suddenly someone behind me. Before I even reached to turn around, that person spoke.

"Kim," said a disturbingly familiar voice.

* * *

**_I_ think this was a long chapter. **

**But I'm still not very pleased with how it turned out. **

**Once again, I can't point out what I don't like... **

**But, yeah. **

**So, I finally decided what to do about Cameron! **

**I'm very excited to see what you think of it! I used some of your ideas. **

**And you know that jellyfish song Gretchen was singing? Yeah, it was my friend who gave me the idea. They've been singing it for days, and now I've started physically hurting them every time they sing it. I just can't stand it. **

**But it does exist, actually. I think it was a song from Spongebob-episode or something. **

**I've posted the link on my profile.**

**Just if you're curios, right?**


	20. Caught in the middle

**I've got over a hundred reviews! GASP!**

**That doesn't mean I own anything, though.**

* * *

"Kim," Jared said warily. He sounded sort of angry. I turned slowly, almost afraid for what I was about to see.

"Hi," I said breathlessly, feeling I was in trouble. What for, I wasn't so sure about. I made my voice a little sharper and said: "This is the second time you've snuck up on me in the dark. Don't you think it's starting to get a little… I don't know, weird?"

"What are you doing?" Jared asked, ignoring my question.

"Nothing," I said and smiled innocently.

"I told you that I don't want you out alone at night," he said, sounding angry. Oh. I guess he had said that. A long time ago, I think. Oh well.

"Why not?"

"It's dangerous," he said. I shrugged.

"I'll take my chances."

"No, you won't."

"Yes, I will," I said and rolled my eyes. I turned my back at him and started to walk away, but he was there in an instant, grabbing my arm and spinning me back around.

"You want to come too?" I asked, sounding hopeful. I didn't really think that was why he stopped me, but hey, a girl can dream!

"No. You're going home."

_Told you._

_Shut up, brain! Like anything good happens when I listen to _you_!_

"_This_ is what I said about overprotective," I pointed out.

"Doesn't matter. It's not safe to…"

"Safe is boring. I have to live when I'm still young," I said dramatically.

"You can live at daytime, now you're going to sleep," Jared said as if that closed the deal. He started to drag me with him the opposite direction of which I was going, and I yanked out of his hold. I started to run, but didn't get far before I felt his arm around my waist, holding me back. He took my arm again and dragged me by it towards home. I muttered "idiot" under my breath, knowing he would hear me.

"Thought you could outrun a werewolf?" he asked with a husky laugh.

"_Could_ have worked," I said angrily, tugging my arm to get free. Why did he have to be so darn fast?

"Where did you think you were going, anyway?"

"I _am_ going to see Gina. She's waiting for me, and I'll have to be there soon –"

"So _she's_ the ones who have been messing with your mind. I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"No one is messing with my mind! I snuck out by my own choices, no one can control me," I said. "No one!" I added and pointedly tried to free my arm. He responded by tightening his hold with a low chuckle. "That goes for you too, you know," I said in a smaller voice.

"Yeah, I got that," he said.

"So…?"

"I don't think it _should_ go for me too."

"Well, that's too bad. I'm my own person,"

"You're my person," he muttered. I felt the anger start to fill me.

"You can't control me!"

"Can too."

"You can't!"

"Yes, I can," he said stubbornly. I couldn't see his face in the dark, but I'd bet he was grinning. This was just what I meant about him being too controlling. I wasn't just something he could push around like he wanted, but he obviously thought that.

"Why do you have to be so…" I couldn't find the right word, so I left it with that. He didn't answer, just kept tugging me along. It didn't take long till we were outside my window, and he studied the distance from the ground and up.

"How were you planning to get back in?" he asked.

"I hadn't planned it just yet," I said in an irritated voice. Then I turned my voice pleading again, trying one more time. "_Please_ let me go see Gina!" I begged.

"It's too dangerous," he said automatically.

"It's not, I swear," I assured him. "I've done it before, it's not dangerous at all –"

"What?" he spat.

"What?" I repeated.

"You've done it _before_?" he asked me angrily.

"Oh," I said and frowned. "Of course. Tons of times."

Obviously not the right thing to say.

"Are you completely out of your mind, Kim? Do you have _any_ idea what could have happened to you? You… you could have been killed! Or you could have gotten lost!" he hissed at me.

"I told you, it's not dangerous –" I tried, annoyed.

"Of _course_ it's dangerous!" he snapped.

"It's not!"

"How can you be so stupid, Kim?" he spat. That did it.

"God dammit, Jared! Stop being such a jerk!" I barked at him. He stiffened a little, shocked. Then he turned apologetic.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that you are stupid –"

"That's not it," I hissed.

"What is it, then?" he asked softly.

"What _is_ it?" I repeated angrily. "_What is it_? It's _everything_!" He looked confused and torn. He put his hands on my upper arms firmly, looking me straight into the eyes.

"What did I do? Have I hurt you?" he asked in a strained voice.

I was about to answer no, but I changed my mind in the last second. "Yes, you have, actually," I told him, and he jerked like I'd hit him or something. I made my voice angry and loud again, almost spitting the words at him. "Why do you have to be such an idiot all the time? And you're _way _too overprotective! Why… and…" I searched for the right words. "You're always so… so secretive and you don't want to tell me anything. Like you never tell me everything about being a werewolf!" I accused.

"But I told you about the voices," he pressed quickly.

"That… that doesn't count!" I hissed. "It still feels like you're keeping a hell of a lot information hidden from me. Why don't you want me to know?"

"I never meant to –"

"I feel like I'm always left out on something, like I don't know anything about what you're doing! It's not fair! You have me tell you _everything_, why shouldn't the same go for you?" I asked furiously.

"Kim, I… I'm sorry if I –"

"_If_? There's no if here. You _know_ how I feel about you not telling me. I've told you like a zillion times, but you _never listen_! I feel like I have no power, like I'm the weakest part here. I'm the one left with nothing, you _always_ get it your way!"

I just let it all stream out. Jared looked hurt. His eyes were wide and sad, pleading, but at the same time they flashed with anger.

"And it's not just the questions you never answer," I continued before he had the time to defend himself. "You're always so pushy. You treat me like I'm some sort of little doll that you get to move around the way you want. I'm a _person_, Jared. And I'm _not_ _your_ person. I'm _my_ person!" I said, lingering on the word "my".

"Kim, I never meant to hurt you," he said urgently. "I… We can do things your way. I'm sorry," he repeated desperately.

"It... it's not only that!" I hissed.

"What more? Tell me, I'll change it," he promised.

"I don't know what it is!" I screamed. Jared started to pull me closer to hug me. I immediately started fighting with him, pushing against his chest as hard as I could. "Don't!" I ordered when it didn't work. "Let me go!"

He set me down in an instant, but kept staring at me with his big, sad eyes.

"What do you want me to do?" he almost whispered.

I melted when I heard how broken he sounded. It took a lot of effort to build up the anger I needed to say what I wanted to say.

"Leave me alone," I said curtly. Pain twisted his face again, making it almost unrecognizable. "Just... give me some space for a while. Stop... being so... overprotective and everything," I finished. My voice turned a little softer in the end, even though I did my best sounding rough and serious.

He didn't say anything for a while. I almost changed my mind under his scrutinizing eyes. He suddenly looked so helpless and lonely, something he definitely wasn't.

_He's a werewolf, Kim. He's not helpless_, I had to remind myself.

"Okay," he whispered. My eyes started to burn with threatening tears. "Just... let me take you back in," he said, his voice cracking. He turned his back at me and bent down so I could climb up.

I did, knowing he normally would just have lifted me up.

In a swift leap we were in the window, and I slid off his back. He was gone before I had the time to climb into my bed.

I cried myself to sleep that night.

Not because I felt sorry for myself, but because I was sorry for Jared and angry for what I had done to him. But I still couldn't make myself take it back, because I was right. I knew _that_.

He didn't pick me up for school the next morning either. I walked, practically drowning myself in the rain, and got to school ten minutes late. He wasn't in English class when I stepped in, soaking wet, and sat down by my desk. I figured he must be patrolling or something. He wouldn't skip school, just because of me, would he? No, it had to be something with the pack.

Luckily we didn't have to have the presentation today. There wasn't enough time for me and Norman and one other group, including Jared and Carol of course, so we had to delay it.

After Spanish I tried once again to talk with Alex. She had begun doubting Cameron, and that was a very good thing, so maybe if I had her listen to my explanation, she would believe me now.

"Hi," I said as I jogged up to her.

"Hey," she said slowly.

"Okay, I know you still think that I'm some sort of boyfriend-stealer, but, like I've said before, that's not the case. _And_ I know that you don't want to talk to me, but I really _am_ telling the truth –"

"I think I believe you," Alex cut me off.

"No, just listen..." I started, but then I registered what she'd said. "What?"

Alex sighed heavily. "I think I believe you," she repeated.

I blinked. "You do?" I asked dumbly. Alex turned to look at me, raising her eyebrows. "I mean, that's great," I added. "But... why?"

She sighed again. "I've heard rumours," she answered curtly. Her voice trembled a little.

"Great!" I exclaimed.

_Idiot_.

"I mean, not great, of course. I mean that... it's sad and..." I wrinkled my nose, annoyed with myself. But Alex smiled weakly.

"It's okay. I want to hear your version. But do you mind waiting till after school? It's... I don't want to go through it all in lunch... and Cameron is..." she trailed off. I understood. She didn't want to push Cameron away before she knew for sure that I was telling the truth. Oh, the irony. That was just what she'd done to me.

"'Kay. What's your last class?" I asked eagerly.

"Gym," she answered.

"Okay!" I said, much too cheery. "See you there," I added in a softer voice. She nodded, and then took a turn to the left to get to her next class.

I was floating the rest of the way to Math class. Not even Algebra could ruin my moods now.

After my last class of the day, I went to the gym to wait for Alex. Gym-class always ended a little later than the others, because the students needed the time to shower and get dressed. I leaned my back impatiently against the brick wall.

I heard steps from someone approaching me. They came in the opposite direction than from which I was expecting Alex, but I turned to see who it was.

Then I seriously debated whether to make a run for it or not.

* * *

**I don't like that they're fighting! But I figured it made sense, because I would be annoyed if I were Kim. **

**And now I'm very close to getting rid of Cameron! Next chapter, promise! **

**Oh, and I really can't thank everyone that has reviewed enough. You're my motivation. And inspiration. **

**And why is this chapter named "Caught in the middle"?**

**No idea, but I was listening to that song, so it was the first thing that popped into my mind. **


	21. Unfair

**I do not own anything. Sigh...**

* * *

"Hi," I breathed. Jared stopped walking, standing awkwardly in the middle of the rain. I saw that he wasn't wearing anything but a pair of cut-off jeans. It looked cold. It would have been, too, for a human. Not for a werewolf.

He watched me warily, as if he was debating whether it was safe to come closer. One part of me wanted him to come all the way over to me, but then again...

"I just..." Jared began, but stopped abruptly. He shook his head once, and started retreating. I was panicking. _Come back_! I wanted to scream, but I restrained myself. "Never mind," he said quickly.

Then he spun all the way around and ran away from me, disappearing into the awaiting forest. I felt my eyes start to burn again, but refused to let the tears start rolling down. I bit my lip and took a deep breath.

Why did this have to be so hard? I was the one to tell him to leave me alone. I shouldn't be feeling like this.

But when Alex came out the door I was hyperventilating, fighting hard against my tears.

"Kim?" she gasped, sounding worried.

"Can we do this some other time?" I pressed out, afraid that if I had my mouth open for too long, a sob would rip through me.

"Sure," Alex answered slowly.

"Thanks," I told her and hurried past her.

My clothes were so heavy with rain water by the time I got home that my knees were practically buckling under me by the weight. I walked straight to my room, throwing myself across my bed ignoring the fact that I was all wet.

Why did I manage to push everyone away from me? First Alex. Well, that wasn't exactly my fault, but still. And now Jared, and that was entirely my fault. I was miserable, but I knew I was right.

What now?

Was I supposed to ignore him forever? I didn't have the strength to do _that_. No way. But I didn't want to be the one to cave either. I didn't want to lose my dignity like that, not for anything.

_What, so this is about pride_? I though sceptically.

Well, why not? What else was it supposed to be? I _wanted_ to be proud. I didn't want to be the weakest link all the time, it wasn't fair. I was a _human being_. That meant that we had equal rights.

Well, he was werewolf.

Same, same, but different.

I still had the same rights, though.

I groaned loudly into the empty air. Why did this have to be so difficult? I confused even myself. I didn't even remember why I wanted Jared to go away in the beginning. Because right now I wanted nothing more than his protecting arms around me...

_Argh! Stop!_

Right. That was just the thing I didn't want.

Overprotective.

Possessive.

Controlling.

Gorgeous.

_Stop!_

I rolled over to my stomach, pressing my face into the pillow. Why had Jared come to school so late today? Like, right after the last period ended? He wanted to tell me something. He had started to, but then he'd changed his mind.

_Why?_

The curiosity was killing me. I _needed_ to know. I hated secrets, to be left out on something. That was, I recalled, another one of the reasons why I had wanted some space.

Gina had been all over me today. Asking me why I hadn't come tonight and everything. I'd just told her that I fell asleep and didn't get her messages. That was only half of the truth. I _did_ fall asleep, but not before after I received her irritated texts.

I didn't even consider going back out. Even if I had been in the mood to actually do it, I couldn't trust Jared to not stop me the next time. I knew him, he was never far away. He hadn't been the last time I avoided him either. He was overprotective even then. Like he had approached me when I was walking from Gina's alone in the dark.

Stop thinking about him!

God, who knew this was going to be so hard?

I tried to forget about him and think about Alex instead. Hopefully she would still agree to talk to me tomorrow. I would hate to have wasted my only chance like that. It made me sick to think that right now she was probably with _Cameron_. I was back to the stage where I grimaced whenever I thought his name.

I had to smile when I thought of how much Jared wanted to punch him...

_WHY can't you STOP thinking about him!_ my furious mind screamed at me. I whimpered, covering my ears hastily.

The point of all this was that I was supposed to be _on my own_. But when he kept haunting my mind, I was just miserable.

I got up from my bed to get some homework done. I actually _wanted_ to do them, to get other things out of my mind for a while. I remembered a saying I heard once.

_Sometimes I _want_ to do my homework. When that happens, I sit down in a corner and wait till the__paroxysm ends_.

How weird.

I needed some sort of professional help.

The homework kept me occupied for a couple of hours. Then there was one whole hour to fill before my parents and Gretchen came home to disturb me with their uninteresting blabber that I missed so much right now.

I grabbed my iPod and went back out in the rain for a walk. There was no point in changing to something dry, seeing that I would get wet again in about three minutes. The clothes I already had were cold, but not soaking anymore.

I was definitely in for a cold.

Wonder what Jared would say to that…

_Get out_!

I stepped right into a deep pond, and the water reached over my sneaker. I didn't even stop to groan. It felt good, actually.

I stuffed the ear plugs to my iPod into my ears and chose a random song from my list. I got about halfway through the song before I wanted to scream in frustration.

_I thought it'd be easy, I was wrong._

Desperately I started to press the buttons wildly. I realized I'd put on that stupid hold-thing, and tried to push it back with my wet, slippery fingers.

_All I can think about is you_.

"Stop!" I hissed at it, but it didn't listen. I suddenly realized that I could just pull the plugs out of my ears. I did, yanking them out roughly. I heard the next sentence dim away on its way out of my ear.

_And now, I'm caught in the middle._

"Shut up!" I said angrily, and dropped it into the nearest pond. I froze when I realized what I'd done. I stood there, staring at it dumb-folded. I considered taking it back up, but thought it might not work anymore.

While I stood there, undecided, I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. My body stiffened. Jared.

I spun around abruptly, ready to chew him out for not keeping a distance like I'd told him to. But when I saw who it was, I was speechless.

"Hi," said Embry awkwardly.

"Um..." I stuttered. "Hey."

_Has Jared sent you?_ I wanted to ask. If the answer was yes, I would tell him that he could say to Jared that I still hadn't changed my mind and that he could mind his own business. _Or_ I could tell him to say that I missed him and wanted him to come back. And that I wanted a new iPod for my birthday. A pink one maybe.

_What are you going at_?

I sighed. I had no idea. Maybe I'd eaten something bad today.

"What is it?" I asked. I noticed that Embry was also only wearing shorts. Was that the new trend for werewolves? Maybe they had their own internet shop. . God, I was long lost today.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry," Embry said sullenly. He didn't look straight into my eyes. "I didn't mean to scare you yesterday."

"Sure. I know," I assured him. I was just a _little_ disappointed that he wasn't here to talk to me for Jared. I knew I shouldn't be. And that I only had myself to thank.

"So... yeah," Embry said after a few silent seconds. He looked over my shoulder. "What did you do to your iPod?" he asked me, obviously just trying to converse.

"Drowned it," I said quietly. He smiled weakly.

"Why?"

"I just did."

What, was I supposed to lay out my whole life in for him? Like how torn I felt because I had told Jared to stay away? And that it was my pride and nothing else that stopped me from making up? And that it was those unpleasant truths that I had decided to take it out on my iPod? It was miserable enough to have to _think_ about how stupid I was behaving.

"Are you going to take it back up?"

"I haven't decided yet," I said honestly. He frowned a little, and I saw what he was thinking in his eyes.

_That is one strange girl_.

Well, I couldn't blame him.

I glanced over my shoulder, looking at my iPod in a mildly interested manner. I _should_ take it up. It had cost me a lot of money, and I didn't want to waste it.

I was about to walk to it when Embry spoke again.

"So... bye," he said curtly. I smiled at him, waved my hand and turned to the pond again. I picked up the green iPod carefully. When I looked up again, Embry was gone. Too bad that he didn't see me save my iPod, maybe he wouldn't think I was as weird if he had.

Miraculously, my iPod still worked. I shuffled through my playlist, searching for a safe song. That meant one that didn't remind me of any love-related subjects.

I settled with one of the weirdest songs I had on it; Mad World by Gary Jules. It fit my moods perfectly, so I ended up with listening to it over and over till I got back home.

I spent about thirty seconds in the kitchen watching mum cook dinner, my dad read the newspaper and Gretchen run around like a maniac. Then I understood that they wouldn't do anything to lighten my moods, as occupied as they were with their own trivial chores.

My bed was taunting me.

It seemed big and empty and cold, and I froze in my pace in the door. I considered turning around and walk back out, but there was nothing better out there either. So I walked in a wide (as wide as it can get, in my tiny room) around the bed and slid down on the worn chair in front of my desk.

Okay, I thought love was supposed to be good? Where were all the butterflies that the love songs described so accurately, where was the joy, the excitement? Where was my mum, bugging me with all her questions about me and Jared? I even missed that. I'd pick that over this any time.

I never thought you were supposed to feel so miserable when you were in love. So lonely, left alone, like the world had turned around and left me from where I began. Like it had erased all that had happened in between, but forgotten to take my memories away with it.

It was unfair!

* * *

**Sorry it took me a bit longer to update this time. **

**I've been so stressed out the past days, french oral on Tuesday and I have all these projects in school, and exams...**

**Ugh, I'll never complain about too much homework again, because it's nothing compared to this. But now I just _had_ to post this. I just couldn't keep away from my computer, I _needed_ to write. **

**I've got nothing more to say...**

**Wait.**

**I do, don't I?**

**Okay, I lied, I didn't get rid of Cameron in this chapter. maybe next. Or nextnext. **

**But.... **

**Well, I don't have an excuse. I just wanted their fight to last a little longer. So I'm sorry if this was a boring chapter.**


	22. How DARE he?

**Sorry it took me a few extra days to update. It has been crazy this week, french oral yesterday (which went very well, thanks for asking) and I had an essay for monday, tomorrow's math test, test in Gym and class picture (yay..-.-') and today I went shopping for my friend's sweet sixteen-party on saturday. **

**So, enjoy chapter 22 and I don't own anything.**

* * *

The next days were... weird.

Jared didn't show up at school Monday either. I screwed up our whole presentation by staring at Jared's empty desk and forget when it was my time to speak. Norman seemed somewhat annoyed, but of course he was too polite to say it.

Jared came to school on Tuesday. He didn't stay very long, though. Fifteen minutes into our English class he suddenly jumped up and ran out. I cursed myself later for not following him. By the time the class was over and I had gained enough courage to talk to him, I couldn't find him.

"This is getting out of hand," Gina commented at lunch.

_Really_?

"You got it," I answered sullenly. I was staring at Alex again. I had used the entire Spanish-class to run all over the school's property and around looking for Jared, so I missed the chance to talk to Alex, too. Why had I run when she came to me after Gym? Did I do _nothing_ right anymore?

"I think I should get a film camera," Gina mused. "We could stalk him and see if he hits on someone else. I bet he does."

I rolled my eyes.

"You're so weird," I commented half-heartedly.

Gina raised an eyebrow at me. "You're one to talk?"

I ignored her comment and kept staring at Alex. Sometimes she would meet my gaze, but she would look away before I had the time to react. Again with that Cameron-thing. She wouldn't risk losing him if I wasn't telling the truth. But, seriously, it was getting really pathetic.

I mean, how slow can she be?

Okay, that was mean. I didn't know what kind of manipulating skills that little worm was in possession of. Maybe he was a modern-time Hitler. I liked that description of him, especially considering what happened to Hitler in the end...

_It's this water_, I concluded. I had always thought the water we got here on this school had a funny taste. I guess it was bound to rub off and make you crazy one time or another.

I sighed loudly, missing Jared again. I had just dropped the not-thinking-about-him-plan. It didn't work. If only I had been faster this morning...

Oh well. Maybe he came tomorrow too. Yes, that would have to be my plan for now. Tomorrow I would... wait outside the classroom or something, and if he didn't show, I would... go looking for him.

_All over La Push_? the rational part of me asked sceptically.

_Shut up!_

"I think I'm going to talk to Alex after school today," I told Gina.

"Have fun," she muttered.

I pouted slightly. "Aren't you coming with me?" Gina laughed shortly.

"Right. I'm waiting till she comes to me. Cameron will give her up sooner or later," Gina said confidently. I rolled my eyes again.

"Whatever," I mumbled as the bell rang.

"See ya," Gina said cheerily and pulled me roughly in for a hug. I huffed quietly. Hugs just weren't me. Or, it wasn't me if it didn't involve Jared. His hugs were nice.

_God, Kim, telling him to get lost was the stupidest thing you could have ever done!_

I deserved that.

During the day I started to wonder where all my courage and dignity had gone. Now it was even scary to have to talk to Alex. I had lost all my confidence. How did this happen?

I practically had to force my feet forwards towards the Gym after my last class. The feeling of déjà vu hit me as I leaned against the brick wall, gazing impatiently over at the forest that wasn't very far.

My mind chanted the name at me: _Jared_...

Yes, Jared _had_ run into the forest last week. But that didn't necessarily mean he was hiding behind the nearest tree, watching me. Still it was hard to restrain myself from walking over and check.

I was losing it.

I _had_ lost it.

But, I guess, since I'd already lost it, what was the point of holding back?

I started to plan out my every word for the conversation with Alex. That first, and later I would think about what to say to Jared. He was harder than Alex.

What if he didn't want _me_ back? What if he thought he couldn't trust me anymore, and that I wasn't someone he wanted? Maybe he found out that this not-seeing-Kim-thing was a better plan than he'd first thought. Maybe that was why he ran out of class, because he couldn't even bear to be in the same room as me. Maybe it disgusted him to have had me so close and then to have me just throw him away like he's worth nothing...

_STOP! _

Right.

Alex.

Focus.

The sound of footsteps approaching broke my concentration, and my head snapped up in excitement. I immediately saw that it wasn't Jared. First, Jared was much bigger than the one I now saw. And, he had dark, tanned, beautiful skin and not this unhealthy, dirty, ugly-coloured slimy skin texture. And he dressed better. And, most importantly, I could never mistake Jared, gorgeous, to _Cameron_, greasy.

Cameron's little excuse of a mouth dragged up into a very disturbing smirk as he got closer to me. Even though this was a completely different scenario than last week, I still felt the same urge to run. And, this time too, I chose not to.

It would be interesting, though, to have Cameron listening to me explaining to Alex what kind of a jerk he was.

"My eyes burn," I said childishly before I thought it through. He ignored my comment.

"Hello, Kim," he said in a smooth voice. For some reason, those two little words were too much for me. I abruptly spun around to stalk away from him. "Not so fast," he said.

I felt his icky hand on my arm, and I was pulled back roughly. Why, oh why, was I blessed with _no muscles at all_!

"Get off me, you insect," I said acidly. He ignored me and pressed me against the wall. I pushed against him with all my strength, but he took my wrists and pinned them to the wall. "What are you _doing_?" I hissed.

"Aw, don't be like that, Kimmy," he said in a baby voice.

"Ugh, move!" I ordered with a grimace. I wriggled my wrists helplessly while I tried to push him away with my body. Nothing helped. Cameron chuckled a little, and I grew even angrier.

"You know what's so funny about you, Kim?" he asked in a dark, mocking voice. I didn't answer, just kept struggling. "You're so weak. And you don't even know it yourself," he laughed.

_Oh, I know it_, I thought, resented.

"You're so gross," I told him with my jaw clenched.

"You keep saying that," he noted casually. He gathered my wrists in one of his hands, and the other one started to wander.

I gasped indignantly. _That_ was just _disgusting_!

I attempted to drive my knee upwards like I had the last time, but he was prepared. He locked my legs firmly against the wall with his own. I felt the urge to throw up when I thought of being so close to him.

"Stop that, you creepy little cockroach!" I hissed. My voice had a hysterical edge to it, and he smiled at that.

"You have nice lips," he told me, amused.

"Yours are ugly," I burst out with childishly. He didn't wait for another second before he crashed his lips to mine. I screamed in protest, trying to move my head away. He took my hair, holding my head in place. Then he tried to force his tongue into my mouth, so I bit it. Hard.

He jerked away with a howl of pain. I tried to take advantage of his occupation, but he still had a good hold of my hair. He yanked me back, and I shrieked, moving my hands to my hair to remove his.

"Ow!" I cried. "Let go!"

He ignored my orders again and yanked my hair a little harder, dragging my head backwards. I gasped and tried to untangle his fingers. Then he bent his head down to my throat and started to kiss – no, _lick_ – his way down my throat.

I whimpered, feeling helpless. I tried to think rationally. He would have to stop _sometime_. At the first sign of retreat, I would run. And I wouldn't stop till I was safely hidden under my own covers in my bed.

I suddenly realized that my right hand was relatively free. I didn't think it through, I just untangled it from my own hair and hit the nearest part of Cameron's body, which turned out to be his head. He lost his hold a little, just a little, and I grabbed his hair, trying to drag him away from me.

He recovered faster than I'd thought, and removed my hand from his hair. He pushed me roughly into the wall, and I caught a glimpse of his stressed expression. For one wild moment I felt smug. I wasn't as easy to control as he'd thought, it seemed.

The joy was short-lived, though.

Suddenly I felt a sharp pain on the side of my head, and I was knocked to the ground by the force of it. My hand flew to the stinging area.

It was numb, but at the same time my head was banging and screaming.

_He hit me_, I realized, dazed. The next thought I had, was _how dare he!_

I turned to look at him, and I could feel the shocked expression on my face. He was looking down at me with an almost worried look. That only confused me even further.

Then I heard a loud shriek of anger. Before I reached to turn, something flew over Cameron, knocking him to the ground. He huffed when he hit the wet gravel and tried to control whatever was on top of him.

Frozen, I saw that it was Alex.

Alex was sitting on top of Cameron's struggling body, hitting and scratching him as hard as she could, while she cried curses at him. I only made out a few of her words.

"... self-centred cheater! Idiotic little... bastard..."

I watched them in a daze. Thing were slightly out of shape and I felt dizzy, like I might faint soon. I vaguely noticed that there was more people presence than it had been only seconds ago, but that didn't bother me. Not even Gina's familiar worried gasp caught my attention. I was occupied watching my friend beat the crap out of her boyfriend – ex-boyfriend, now – and struggling to understand what this meant to me.

I didn't notice the huge figure walking through the few students that had gathered to watch before Alex was practically lifted from the ground. She seemed just as surprised as I was, but didn't struggle. She was too upset to think clearly, and when Jared – I saw him now – _handed_ her to Gina, she clung to Gina's shirt like her life depended on it, sobbing helplessly.

"I'm so sorry," she sobbed into Gina's ear.

Jared grabbed the front of Cameron's hoodie and jerked him to his feet. Cameron looked bewildered, looking at Jared with startled eyes.

I didn't even see Jared lunge for him, but I heard a low cracking sound and a yelp of pain as Cameron fell to the ground again. Jared walked away from him without giving him another glance.

He came in my direction. Without hesitating, he bent down and lifted me up into his arms. I threw my arms around his neck immediately, clinging to his warm body. He responded my tightening his grip on me, but he didn't say anything.

He carried me away from the staring students, walking fast and determined. I was dazzled by his strained face and the way he looked straight forward. It didn't even bother me that he wasn't looking at me. For somehow I was happy just to have him close.

I didn't realize at first that I was crying. Huge amounts of tears were streaming down my cheeks and I was also sobbing. When I understood that, I gasped loudly to try to control myself. That attracted Jared's attention, and he looked at me for half a second. His face twisted in pain quickly before he looked away hastily.

I wanted to say how sorry I was. I mean, he was here, now, and I should take the opportunity. What if he suddenly decided that he didn't want to be near me? What if he just put me down and ran away? There was nothing in me that could hold him back.

As illogical as that might have seemed, I still clung to him for dear life. I didn't even pay attention to where we were going, but I suddenly realized that I wasn't familiar with this path. I looked around frantically.

"Where are we?" I asked Jared.

"I'm taking you to my place," he told me without looking at me.

I was silent for a second. "Why?"

"It's safe," was his answer. It bothered me that he wouldn't answer me fully. What was so important that I couldn't know about? But still I couldn't shake off the ecstatic feeling of having him this close to me.

I barely noticed the house as we approached it. I was too busy looking at Jared's perfect face, though he didn't sacrifice me one simple glance. He carried me through an untidy entree and up the stairs, into the living room. There he dropped me carefully on the couch. I sat up immediately, leaning my back against one of the sides. He hesitated a little before he sank down at the floor in front of me. Even now, with him on the floor, he was as tall as me. Once I would have to ask him how tall he really was.

"Are you hurt?" Jared asked me in a husky voice after a few seconds. I... wasn't sure. I felt for the pain where Cameron had hit me, but it wasn't that bad. It was liveable.

"No," I said, shaking my head.

I wanted to say that I was sorry. And that I didn't mean what I said.

Well, that wasn't true. I _did_ mean it. But I would rather have Jared back now.

"Kim," Jared said before I reached to speak. "I'm so sorry." I stared at him.

_What_?

"I shouldn't have... I... I know that you felt –"

"Stop," I said hastily. He looked at me with pleading eyes, but I shook my head again. "Jared, _I'm_ sorry. It wasn't fair of me just to... I don't know what happened to me, I just felt really angry all of a sudden. And I'm not sure if I meant everything I said," I told him carefully.

"But you were right," he assured me, sounding almost desperate to make me understand. I didn't argue with him, because I agreed. I _was_ right. But that didn't mean I wanted him to suffer for it. An awkward silence followed, both of us searching for the right words. We started to talk at the same time, both saying "I".

"You first," Jared said quickly.

"No, you," I protested.

He frowned a little, but obeyed. "I'm sorry that I didn't answer you all your questions. Truth be told, I was afraid you wouldn't want me if I did."

"I want you," I blurted out. My eyes widened when I realized what I'd said, and I blushed. But Jared's face lit up and his mouth broke into a smile. His grin reached from one ear to another, and that's not even exaggerating much.

He didn't comment my outburst. Instead he said gently:

"I'll answer anything you want. I promise."

"Starting now?"

He nodded eagerly. "Sure."

"Okay," I said, deliberating. "So... um, how's Embry doing?" I asked. I started with something light, building up to it.

Jared looked a bit taken-aback by my question, but, as promised, he answered.

"He's fine. It's always a bit strange in the beginning. You know, with the speed and strength and phasing... And he's sad that he can't be with his friends."

"Why can't he be with his friends?" I asked lightly.

"They can't know. And it's too risky to... yeah, they would definitely notice the difference if he kept hanging out with them. He has responsibilities now, and they can't know," Jared explained patiently.

"Why can't he tell them? You told me. And Emily knows too." He turned wary again, and I got annoyed. "Come on! You said you would answer _all_ my questions!"

"I will," he assured me desperately. But his eyes flickered away from mine, as if he was looking for an escape. "But can you answer one of mine first?" he asked.

"That wasn't part of the deal," I almost hissed.

"I know. But we can ask one each, okay?" he tried to compromise. I pouted like a little child, but nodded. I guess it was only fair. And he _had_ promised to tell me. I wouldn't forget that.

"Fine," I said at last, and he smiled, relieved.

"Cool," he grinned. "Okay. Answer me this _real_ honest. Are you hurt?" he asked, looking straight into my eyes. It was impossible for me to lie, but I didn't have to.

"No. It doesn't hurt that much," I assured him, moving my hand to the area of my face that burned a little. No blood, at least.

"Why did he hit you?" Jared asked.

"That's two," I noted. He shrugged, and I sighed.

"'Cause I hit him first," I told him. I was actually kind of proud of that. I had hit him, and I think it had hurt him a little.

"Why did _you_ hit _him_?" Jared pressed. His jaw was clenched, and I think he already knew the answer. I remembered how angry he had gotten the last time Cameron had tried to kiss me. Close to phasing, actually. What would he do now, that he had hit me _and_ kissed me?

I shuddered at the thought.

"That's three," I said in a small voice. He didn't break his gaze, and I understood that he wouldn't forget it. Well, that was fair too. If I wanted full answers I would have to give them too. I sighed another time. "He... tried to kiss me," I said. Okay, that was a tiny, little lie. Maybe he wouldn't get _too_ mad if I said _tried_...

But Jared didn't start shaking like before. His eyes didn't get all blurry like the last time, he just narrowed them a little.

"Do you want me to go and kill him?" he asked me. I was about to laugh out loud at that, but then I saw that he was serious. My eyes widened a little with that realization.

"No!" I exclaimed urgently, reached for his hand as if I wanted to stop him. He curled his had around mine, holding it securely. "No, it's fine."

He kept looking at me, as if he was searching for something in my expression. "Are you angry I hit him?" he asked me after a few seconds.

I shook my head. "No, I think he deserved that."

"Because I know you said that I would have to ask Alex, but since she was already all over him, I figured I was allowed."

"It's okay, Jared. Really," I assured him.

"I don't think I really broke his jaw. Maybe. I'm not sure, I didn't use all my strength, of course. That would have killed him –"

"Broke his _jaw_?" I asked, cutting him off. Jared turned worried again.

"I'm sorry. I didn't... I really just wanted to get you out of there, but at the same time I was so _angry –_"

I surprised us both with giggling a little. His eyebrows lifted up, and he looked at me with a curious expression.

"I think he deserved that too," I told him. I tried hard not to think about the feeling of his gross hands on _me_. And he had hit me. I was still shocked by that, because I didn't think he would really do that.

"My turn," I said, changing the subject. He nodded, waiting. I decided to not ask for the same thing as before, knowing he would only find an excuse to not answer. I had other questions. "Why'd you run out of the classroom?" I asked.

"Because I thought you didn't want me there," he answered immediately. "My turn. Do you want me?" he asked, his voice suddenly turning uncertain. I rolled my eyes.

"Didn't I already say that?" I asked.

"Yes. But I want to be sure. You aren't _too_ angry with me, right?"

I shook my head. "I'm not angry at all. It was my fault for being... oversensitive or something." He was about to protest, so I quickly asked my next question. "Why did you come to school and run away the other day?"

"Because I wanted to see if you were safe. I was going to just watch you from a distance, but then I saw you and I wanted to talk to you and say that I was sorry. But I didn't want to pressure you or anything. It looked like you wanted me to go," he explained.

"You're not very good reading body language," I scolded him. "I wanted you to come _closer_."

"Well, how was I supposed to know?" he asked, sounding just a little annoyed. I smiled teasingly at him, and he rolled his eyes. "Do you still want me?" he asked.

"Always, I already told you that, twice," I said, blushing again. He grinned.

"Your turn."

"Why'd you come today? I mean, where were you, before?"

"That's two," he noted.

"You got three earlier," I reminded him. "Answer," I ordered.

"I was... upset after English, so I was running. Sam convinced me that going back would be better, but I had run pretty far away before I decided he was right. When I got closer I heard... you, first, and then Alex. I _did_ run as fast as I could," he told me. His voice turned agonized at the end, as if he thought that he hadn't succeeded. "I was so scared for you, Kim," he continued, looking deeply into my eyes. I was absolutely speechless, captured and frozen by his look.

"It's okay," I whispered, making my eyes wide with reassurance. He didn't look convinced.

"I shouldn't have run so far away from you. How was I supposed to make sure you were safe when I was in... actually, I'm not sure where I was. But –"

"It's not your job to make sure I'm safe," I cut him off, trying to comfort him. It was a lame attempt, obviously. He jerked a little at my words, but didn't say anything. I quickly added; "Your turn."

He didn't say anything at once, and just as I was about to crack of impatience, he asked me softly: "Are you cold?"

The butterflies woke up again in my stomach, and my heart fluttered.

"Yes, a little bit," I said, hoping that he wouldn't just go get a blanket or something. He didn't disappoint me as he slid down next to me in the couch and put his inhumanly warm arms around me. I snuggled closer to him, noticing for the first time that he wasn't wearing anything but that pair of cut-off jeans. No wonder all the kids had been staring. I giggled a little as I wondered what they had been thinking.

"What?" Jared asked in a light voice.

"Nothing," I told him, smiling. "I just... missed you holding me."

He breathed into my hair. "Good. 'Cause I missed holding you, too."

At that the butterflies went wild. They almost made me jump out of the couch and do a crazy, twitching dance right on top of the living room table.

I almost blushed in embarrassment only thinking about it.

"Your turn," Jared said.

"Mmm..." I said, thinking. I decided it was time for the question I had asked first, the one that made him change the subject. "Tell me... why Embry can't tell his friends, but you're allowed to tell me and Sam Emily?" I asked, emphasizing each word. He stiffened again. I narrowed my eyes. "Okay, answer me this first. Why don't you want to tell me?"

"I want to tell you. Really. But it's... I'm afraid I might scare you again," he told me in a soft voice. I shrugged – or rather tried to shrug. His arms were heave over mine.

"I promise not to overreact," I vowed, leaning my head up to look at his. He looked at me a bit doubtfully, but then he said, slowly:

"I imprinted on you."

* * *

**Did anyone notice how long this is? **

**I did. **

**So, are you happe with what I did to Cameron? **

**I mean, a broken jaw and puplic humiliation is pretty tough. And I doubt that anyone will ever want to go out with _him_ again. **

**Was the cliffhanger mean? Just a little bit... **

**Oh, and thanks to those who helped me solve the Cameron-trouble:**

**Everyone who wanted Jared to punch him. **

**mhgood, who pretty much helped me with the whole plot. Thanks!! **

**Vampreader: not the nose, but the jaw, was that okay? I just like the word "jaw" better. Nose sounds so... sniffy...**

**And she quit the distance with Jared-thing! Many people didn't like that. I didn't either, I just wanted to get them back together at once. I should probably have dragged their fight out a little longer, but it was so miserable. I got sad just writing it. **

**Okay, I'll be a faster updater next time! **

**Promise! **

**(Don't kill me if I'm lying!)**


	23. Rules

**Sorry I'm gettin slower on my updates. The weather has been so nice lately...**

**I own nothing.**

* * *

I waited for some sort of explanation, and when nothing came, I asked politely:

"You what on me?"

"Imprinted," he repeated. That didn't make me any smarter, so I frowned up at him. Jared took a deep breath, stalling, obviously. "It means that I'm meant to be with you," he explained poorly.

"Um..." I said, confused. "What?"

"Imprinted. Some werewolves imprint, but not all, I think. Now, for me, it feels like I can't see other girls. I can only see you."

"Can't _see_?" I asked. He nodded eagerly.

"They're all blurry," he told me.

_Uh, what_?

"Um..." I said, wondering what this had to do with the fact that Embry couldn't tell his friends. "What does that mean?" I asked.

"It means that I _have_ to be with you. I _can't_ be with anyone else,"

Wait. What?

Has to...

Oh. _Oh_.

My eyes suddenly started burning and my body went stiff.

"You... have to?" I asked in a weak voice.

"Yes," he said, nodding cautiously. The lump in my throat magically appeared again and threatened with gulping up and out. I suddenly wanted to knock my head against the wall for being so stupid, so naive.

"You don't have a choice?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper. He suddenly seemed to grasp what my mood was, and his expression turned abruptly.

"It's not like that," he said quickly, turning me around. "I _want_ to be with you," he reassured me as I positioned myself so I was sitting on my knees, facing him. "You're the only person that really matters to me anymore –"

"But you don't have a choice?" I cut him off, looking deeply into his eyes, making it impossible for him to lie without me noticing. I fought stoutly against the burning tears that were threatening with falling down my cheeks.

"That's sort of true, but not," he said undecidedly, his eyes flickering over me, trying to find the right words. I didn't say anything, just kept completely still, waiting for him to continue. His voice was urgent and desperate as he spoke. "If I'm not with you, I get all moody and bitter. I wouldn't be able to do my duty, and then I wouldn't have been able to protect the tribe. But when I know you're safe and that you're happy –"

"What, so this is all another one of your werewolf-things?" I asked unhappily. My lips trembled and my voice broke at the end of the sentence. I knew what this meant.

"Yes, but... It's not... Well, yes, but no. I'm... _supposed_ to be with you," he tried desperately. His hands motioned to reach for me, but I flinched just a little, making him pull them back immediately.

"What do you mean, supposed to?" I asked, my voice louder than before. My self-preservation instinct turned on, and the anger pushed away the hurt feelings.

Jared talked faster now. "Sa... _we_ think that we imprint on the people we are most likely to produce new werewolves with. A new generation of protectors, if you know what I mean –"

"You're with me because you want me to make you _puppies_?" I shrieked, jumping to my feet in a swift move. Shock rushed over his face and he jumped up too.

"No, Kim, that's not it at all!" he exclaimed desperately. "I wouldn't… It's not… okay, here's the thing: I love you more than what is humanly possible. I love you because you're my soul mate, and you're the only reason for me living. I'm here only because of you," he said. "It doesn't change anything!"

"Of course it does!" I hissed. I wanted to stalk out of this room and his house right now. I wondered how far I'd get. Maybe I'd reach the living room door, if I was lucky.

I was still undecided, so my mouth kept blabbering unthinkingly and unclearly while I still fought to hold back the tears.

"Here I've been wondering why you possibly would want to be with me, and the only explanation I could come up with is that… that you _like_ me and because I'm… _me_. But then it's just another _ridiculous_ werewolf-trait! What, don't _I_ get a say in this?" I had to stop to catch my breath, and Jared took that opportunity to speak.

"But that's _just_ it! I _do_ want to be with you because of you. You're my soul mate, why wouldn't I want to be with you?" he asked, sounding as if he was in disbelief.

Realizing I didn't have a good answer to that, I shook my head quickly, closing my eyes. In confusion I turned around, hesitantly taking a few steps towards the door. I expected warm hands to hold me back, but instead I heard a soft, pleading voice:

"Don't go," Jared begged. His voice was barely a whisper, and he sounded as if he was in pain. I stopped abruptly, automatically. I bit my lip and held my face, trying not to show any emotions. My eyes were still burning and my lips were trembling slightly.

"I don't understand," I mumbled. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to stop the weak shaking. Jared looked at me in silence for a few seconds before he slid back down into the couch. He patted the seat next to him, looking at me pleadingly.

I hesitated.

It was my choice now, I suddenly saw. I could just walk over to him and sit down, like he wanted, and hope that I would like what he was going to say. Or I could walk out of here, he wouldn't stop me. But I hadn't forgotten how I had felt when I didn't have him near me, and it wasn't something I yearned to go back to.

I guess it would have been easier if I _didn't_ have the choice. Like before. I felt it as I almost missed Jared's controlling self from before, though I knew I wouldn't like that either.

I made my feet move forwards, and I sat down stiffly next to him. He sent me a brief, relieved smile, and turned serious again.

"Okay. I'm not very good at explaining things, obviously. Look. I _do_ love you, and it has nothing to do with imprinting. Imprinting is more like… admiration. Love comes after," he said, struggling a little with finding the right words. I watched him, still not talking. I wanted to get this whole thing straight before I passed any opinion on this. It hadn't exactly been pretty the last time I avoided him when he wanted to tell me something. "That means that I… See, I don't really… All I care about is that you're happy. As long as you are, I can go through my life and be… content," he continued, sounding a little doubtful. "And it's… I can't see what's negative about it for you either. I'll be your everything. I'll be your personal slave," he told me with a small smile. "I can't love anyone else, because I can't see them. I'll always be yours," he finished. He stopped there, eyes flickering over my face, waiting for my reaction.

"I…" I mumbled, looking away from him eyes. "I don't know," I breathed.

I could almost hear him sink together in disappointment. I looked up, only to see his huge, dark, sad eyes. When he looked at me like that, he almost looked like a little child, innocent and vulnerable. It made me want to cradle him to my chest, which would look completely ridiculous, seeing that he was practically twice my size. He opened his mouth to speak, but I beat him to it.

"Will everything be the same?" I asked. "Before we…"

He nodded eagerly, almost bouncing his whole body up and down on the couch. The corner of his lips twitched hopefully, and I gave him a warm smile.

"Then I guess… I'm okay with it," I told him. His face exploded into a humongous grin and his eyes widened in happiness.

"Really?" he asked, looking like a child again. I nodded, smiling wider. He moved to hug me, his arms twitching towards me. Then he stopped, abruptly, and looked at me as if waiting for approving. I laughed, rolled my eyes and jumped at him. I threw my arms around his neck, and he caught me. His arms encircled me automatically, holding me so tight that I almost had difficulties breathing.

But I wasn't complaining.

"I missed you," he whispered happily into my ear.

"Missed you more," I replied. He made a snorting sound, like he didn't believe that. We held the hug for what seemed like forever, but I didn't want to pull away, and he didn't either. But after a while, he pushed me lightly down on the couch again, but he kept a hold on my hand. I looked at our hands, liking how they looked together. It didn't even bother me that mine looked ridiculously small as opposed to his. I actually liked it.

"I'll try and me less… protective," Jared told me, sounding resigned. "But it is because of the imprinting," he added.

"It's okay, I'll tell you when it gets too bad," I said, shrugging. I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face, but I didn't try too hard either.

"So you're completely fine with this?" Jared asked after a minute of us just staring goofily at each other.

I nodded.

"But I do have some rules," I added. He turned grave again, making a sign for me to continue.

"I'm listening," he said seriously.

"Okay. One. When I ask you something, _answer the question_. Don't be afraid I'll be scared or something, because I'm tougher than I look," I told him.

He rolled his eyes. "Says the girl who faints at the sight of wolves," he muttered. I smacked the side of his head lightly.

"You would too, if you weren't used to it," I said playfully. "Did you understand the rule?"

"Sure thing," he nodded.

"Two: You're not my dad, so I'm allowed to sneak out. And do other things, which I _know_ isn't dangerous, and you have to trust me when I say that they aren't."

"I can agree to that, on one condition," he cut me off.

"What?"

"If you sneak out, or whatever you do, I get to come with you. At least watch you from a distance, so I'm sure you're not hurt."

"Okay," I said, smiling. I actually liked the idea of having Jared with me. Not the spying-in-the-shadows-thing, but I was all for having him there when we were out at night. "Three: When I tell you to kiss me, do it. And a real kiss, a real, juicy suffocating kiss," I said, smiling.

He smiled back, a little slyly. Before I had the time to react, he leaned down and crushed his lips to mine. I was taken aback by the force of it, and I had almost forgotten what it felt like to have him _really_ kiss me. I fell back on the couch, but my lips never left his. He followed me eagerly, hovering over me as I secured his face to mine by tangling my fingers into his messy, dark hair.

When I finally needed to breathe, I gave him a light thud on the shoulder. He reluctantly pulled back.

"Was that suffocating enough for you?" he asked, breathless himself. I nodded, since I was in no shape to talk. I was panting for air, trying to sit up by myself. "Are there more rules?" he asked eagerly. I laughed weakly.

"You _like_ the rules?"

"Well, I have until now," he said, throwing me a boastful smirk. I rolled my eyes.

"I can't think of any more right now. You ruined my concentration," I accused. He smiled from ear to ear.

"Are you angry with me?" he asked playfully.

I shook my head. "Nope."

"Good. I have some rules too," he told me.

"Let me hear," I said eagerly. He smiled and tightened his grip on my hand a little.

"No secrets," he said firmly.

"I never have secrets from you," I said quickly. He raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't know you were sneaking out," he hinted.

_Sneaking out. Bad idea,_ I scolded myself.

"Snap-decision. I'll tell you next time," I promised.

He grinned. "Two: Gina is not allowed to make smart comments every time I touch you."

"That's not in my power," I argued.

"It's still a rule," he insisted. "You can at least tell her. She'll listen, she owes you for making out with –" He stopped abruptly, like he wanted to change the subject immediately.

"I will," I said quickly. "Are there any more rules?"

"No other boys are allowed to touch you or kiss you or hug you or flirt with you whatsoever," he said with his jaw clenched. "Unless you want them to," he added in a strained voice.

"I won't want anyone but you, and I'll pass that on," I said in a cheery voice, trying to lighten his mood.

He relaxed a little, and I moved closer to him.

"Can I have another hug?" I asked hopefully, reached my arms out. He eagerly pulled me in.

"Maybe I should get you a whistle," he mused in my ear. I giggled at his random thought.

"Why?"

"If you had one, you wouldn't have to wait for Alex next time you need help. Or maybe you should just lift some weights, so you can fight them yourself," he continued in a half-serious voice.

"I won't lift weights," I huffed. "They're heavy and boring. And I have you, so there's no problem."

"True," he mumbled.

"Was that all the rules?" I asked into his ear. I pushed myself backwards to look into his eyes, and he nodded.

"For now, at least," he told me. He looked me up and down, and put on a mocking, disapproving expression. "You _should_ lift weights. You're too tiny."

I huffed. "I'm not _tiny_. You're _huge_," I insisted.

He snorted. "What are you, five feet?"

"Five feet one and a half inches, thank you," I said "What are _you_, seven feet?"

"Six feet four inches," he told me matter-of-factly. I rolled my eyes.

"And you think that's normal?" I asked. He nodded, smiling innocently. "I'm not talking werewolf-normal. Human-normal."

"It's not fair to be sized up to different species," he said accusingly. I giggled.

"You're still huge," I muttered.

"And you're still small," he replied. I shrugged. "What do you want to do now?"

"Nothing. Relax. Move," I ordered, and pushed his shoulder. I steered him so he was lying on the couch with his back against the armrest, and then I leaned on him with my back against his chest. He wrapped his big, warm arms around me immediately, holding me close.

"Is this okay?" he asked gently.

I made a satisfied grunt, and he chuckled a little.

"Tell me something about werewolves," I asked in a soft voice.

"Hm…" he said, thinking. "Did I ever tell you that I don't age?"

"Really?" I asked, surprised.

"Yup. As long as I'm phasing, I won't change," he said, sounding happy. I giggled.

"That will be sort of weird. When I'm thirty and you're still sixteen." I said it like it didn't matter, but it really disgusted me a little. What about when I was eighty?

"Do you think I look sixteen?" Jared asked, amused. I wriggled my head around.

"Not really," I admitted. He was right. He looked much older than sixteen, and someone who didn't know him would guess his age was twenty-something. I was just used to him, knowing his age, so I hadn't really thought much of it.

"Weird," I muttered. I felt him shrug his shoulders under me.

"It's a werewolf-thing."

"More," I ordered.

"Sam imprinted on Emily," Jared said.

"That figures," I said. "What is it like to imprint?"

He groaned. "You want me to explain things again?" he asked. I nodded, smiling though he couldn't see it. "Okay. Fine, I'll try. It's… it's really just crazy. It's like the first time you look into the eyes of the one you imprint on, your whole world changes. It's like… like the whole universe revolves around just that one person, and you want to protect them and hold them and really just hide them from anything that's dangerous or that can hurt them. And, as I said, you can't see anyone else. The… imprint becomes the only important thing in your world," he explained.

"Isn't it annoying?" I asked. He laughed, and his body shook under me.

"Annoying?" he asked.

"Not being able to see anyone else?"

"I only can't see other girls. And why would I want to, since I've got the most beautiful and sweet person in the whole, wide universe right here in my arms?" he said, and planted a kiss on the top of my head. I blushed.

"There's something wrong with your eye-sight," I mumbled.

"It's better than yours," he told me, confident and smug.

"Well, then it's just because you can't see anyone else. You don't have anything _really_ beautiful to watch, so you'll have to be satisfied with me –"

"You're so weird," he cut me off.

"So I've been told," I said darkly.

"New rule," Jared announced. "Kim has to believe she's beautiful."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not going along with that," I told him.

"If you don't, then you're not allowed to sneak out," he warned.

"That's _so_ no fair!" I accused.

"Is too."

"New rule: No "Are too-Are not-arguments," I said.

"You're avoiding the subject."

"_Fine_!"

_Good thing he can't read my minds_…

"Are you beautiful?" he asked.

"Sure," I answered.

"We'll work on that," he assured me.

"What's it like to phase for the first time?" I asked. I had thought about this before, and the only thing I could relate to was when I had my first period. I had quickly decided that those two were completely different things.

"It's not very pleasant. It started when I began growing real fast. None of my parents are very big, so it was weird. And I got much stronger and faster, and my body temperature was running higher than before. Then, one day, I felt it like I was getting sick. I was even warmer than usual. I was getting home from school, and no one was home. I realized that I'd forgotten my keys, and then I just snapped." He stopped abruptly. After a short pause he continued. "It's a good thing no one was home. I didn't have any control, and I ran around wildly trying to ignore the voices in my head. I didn't understand that I was a wolf at first, either. It was all so… strange and terrifying. I can't even explain it," he finished, annoyed again.

I was silent, because I didn't know what to say. He didn't press me for comments either, but shifted his hold on me slightly, pulling me up so that he could rest his chin on my head. I closed my eyes, enjoying having him so close to me and vowing for myself never to tell him to stay away again.

* * *

**What do you think? **

**I tried to make Kims reactions sound real, but it's sort of hard to live into her situation. **

**So, some feedback on that one would be nice.**

**I haven't been a very fast updater lately. I mean, I've had half of this chapter on my computer for days now, and I just had to sit down and write the rest. **

**It's just that I've had a lot on my mind. Last week we had French orals, essays and everything, yesterday I went to my best friend's sweet sixteen-party (I avoided dancing most of the night. I'm proud of myself) and today it was so sunny that I've been on the beach all day. **

**Sunburned?**

**Oh yes. **

**But it gave me an excuse to wear shorts and a top _outside_! That's very rare here. **

**Please review! **

**P for Paul**

**L for Leah**

**E for Edward (duh)**

**A for Aro**

**S for Seth**

**E for Emmet**

**R for Renesmee**

**E for Embry**

**V for Victoria**

**I for Irina (because I couldn't find anyone else)**

**E for Emily**

**W for (any ideas??)**

**That was fun. **


	24. Worry

**We've been over this like a thousand times now. **

**I don't own anything.**

* * *

"I am _so_ blaming you," I accused Jared after a first glance on my presentation feedback. I had never got such a bad grade in my entire life before.

"Why?" he asked innocently.

"You weren't there!" I said, throwing my hands in the air dramatically. I blushed when a few students shot me weird glances, and lowered my voice. "How was I supposed to concentrate? I kept thinking about you."

"Mine's worse," he told me, holding up the sheet of paper. He failed.

"Why'd you fail?" I asked, holding back a giggle.

"'Cause he thought I ditched," Jared said with a grimace. "Some kids saw me running from the parking lot in the morning. Just my luck that they were the types to report it, too."

"That's not my fault," I said, not so miserable about my grade after all. He raised one eyebrow, and I looked away, smiling.

As usual, he kept staring at me throughout the class. It didn't bother me like before. I enjoyed it, actually. I still couldn't focus on the lecture, of course, but that was just a minor detail. So what if I failed this one class?

I was almost nervous to go to lunch. I hadn't spoken to Alex at all after yesterday. Gina hadn't even called. I gulped as I thought that maybe there had been another misunderstanding, and they hated me again. What if they thought that I _wanted_ to be with Cameron? What if _he'd_ told them that?

I almost stopped walking completely as we reached the double doors, and Jared looked at me questioningly. I shrugged it off and followed him in.

My eyes found Alex and Gina at once, and Alex stiffened at the sight of me. Gina waved me eagerly to them, and I started walking, confused by the mixed signals they sent me.

Alex jumped up as soon as I was near their table. She threw her arms around my neck, and my knees buckled when she put all her weight on my shoulders. For a short moment I thought that maybe Jared was right; I _should_ lift weights.

"I'm so, so, so, so, so, so _sorry_!" Alex bellowed into my ear. I slid my hands around her waist, feeling idiotic as I stroked her gently.

"It's okay," I said automatically.

"I should have believed you! I don't know why I didn't believe you! You were right, and you said the truth, and you just wanted to protect me… oh, I feel like shit!" she continued, her voice muffled as she dug her face into my shoulder.

"It's okay," I repeated. "I know he was… manipulating and stuff. I don't blame you."

Some part of me told me that I was being way too forgiving, but I didn't care. I just wanted my friend back, and she needed her friends back. We couldn't exactly leave her either, she was already broken. That wasn't even an option for me.

"Oh, Kim," she said, sobbing now.

"Don't cry," I said, softly. I wriggled my head upwards, trying to see something of the outside world. I shot Gina a helpless look, and she shot me a sly smile. But she reached out and took Alex's shoulders, guiding her away from me and to her seat. I collapsed on my own chair, nearly exhausted from only holding my weight and Alex's on the same time. Jared sat down next to me and I felt his eyes behind me as I turned to Alex.

"So, what happened after I left," I asked, choosing my words wisely.

Gina grinned. "Well, he" She obviously avoided mentioning Cameron's name. "lay on the ground for some time, just whimpering like a little baby after Jared hit him." She shot Jared an approving little smirk. "And some people were, of course, laughing because he got beat up by a girl." Alex smiled weakly. "And then people started to leave, and he was still on the ground, so I walked over to him and kicked his… yeah, where it hurts. And then the headmaster came down, and I thought I was in trouble, but he just said that Ca… _he_ had to come with him. You should have seen his face! It was all swollen up and red and bloody, and his jaw was all lopsided. When he walked he had his legs in this weird angle, and I take all the credit for that. Not the headmaster's, obviously. And after that I don't know, but he hasn't been here today. He's probably expelled."

"What did you do after that?" I asked, not hovering over the Cameron-subject. It made me sick just to think about him. I had showered numerous of times yesterday, trying to get the feeling of his greasy hands away from where he had touched me. "No one called me."

"Well, we were going to, but we figured you'd be busy…" Alex trailed off, and looked at Jared rather subtle. I and Gina followed her example, and Jared looked from me to Alex to Gina, confused.

"What?" he asked, bewildered.

I rolled my eyes. "Care to go get me a drink?" I asked pointedly. He nodded slowly, obviously thinking hard. Then he suddenly jumped up with a loud "Oh!" and disappeared.

"Air head," Gina muttered, ignoring my glare.

"Don't blame him, he's a boy. Boys have maximum three to ten brain cells, and most of them get killed during fluffy moments," I told them.

"What fluffy moments?" Alex asked immediately. I smiled secretively at her, and she her eyes grew wide with curiosity. Already back to old Alex, I though happily. "Don't you dare holding back on this, Kimmy. I've been wondering about this since…" she stopped talking, thinking. "Since a long time. It killed me not being able to ask you!"

That was one of the things I loved about Alex. She knew how to put things behind her, and was already making jokes about it.

"It's a _long_ story," Gina sighed meaningfully, and leaned back on her chair, resting her feet on the table. "First. She was _never_ over him."

"That figures," Alex mumbled. I rolled my eyes, but let Gina continue.

"Second: He is _completely_ and_ pathetically_ lost in _her_."

"It's not pathetic," I argued.

"Not loving you, but he looks very stupid when he drools all over his clothes just looking at you," Gina insisted.

"He's not drooling!"

Gina ignored me and kept telling my story her own way, and I continued cutting her off and filling in the gaps or correcting her mistakes from time to time. Jared was wise not to come back till after the story was finished, and then he put his arms around me. Gina didn't make as many strangled sounds as she usually did, and Alex kept looking at us with stars in her eyes.

I felt bad for a second, feeling like I was waving Jared right in front of her, mocking her. But she didn't seem resented or anything, so I quickly shrugged off the feeling.

"Kim!" Alex suddenly gasped. "Your birthday is coming up!"

_Shit_.

I had actually almost forgotten that.

"When's that?" Jared asked eagerly.

"April 20th," I answered sullenly.

"That's… next week," he said, taken aback.

"Yeah."

"That means you'll be seventeen," he continued. I cringed a little.

"That's right."

"And, as always, she won't celebrate it," Gina said in an annoyed voice.

"Why?" Jared asked, as if this was completely unintelligible for him.

"I don't like birthdays. Or, I don't like _my_ birthdays."

"Why?" he repeated.

"'Cause they're unnecessary and just as any other day."

"You don't want a party?" he asked.

"No," I scoffed. He looked at me for a few seconds, and then he smiled inscrutably.

"You're so weird," he told me, messing up my hair.

"Says the guy who fails English, the easiest subject ever," I argued. "And I feel very small when you do that," I added, smoothing my hair back down.

"'Cause you _are_ small," he muttered. I glared playfully at him, but was interrupted by Alex and Gina's sudden roar of laughter. We both turned out confused faces towards them.

"What?" I asked.

They shook their head, still laughing like crazy hyenas, and I shared another confused look with Jared.

"I don't know them," I told him, and the volume of their laughter increased.

"Should we leave?" Jared asked, a bit worried. Well, I couldn't blame him. How was he supposed to be an expert on teenage girl behavior when he wasn't one himself?

I shook my head. "They'll stop in a few minutes. Then they'll maybe even be in a good enough shape to explain to us what's so funny."

Though I already had an idea of what was funny. _We_ were funny. Of course, I would have laughed too, if I saw someone banter the way we did. It was too much of a cliché not to laugh of.

Jared followed me home, like he used to. It was just heavenly not having to spend all those hours alone in the house, even if we did nothing but talk.

I didn't even make him leave when my parents came home, I eagerly dragged him into the living room where we watched TV with Gretchen (Jared was still as bad as me with children, but Gretchen loved him) until dinner was ready.

"So, Jared," dad said when we had started eating. "What do you do?"

_Oh, God no_.

Dad was being dad again, with all his obnoxious questions and nagging. Couldn't he just be as easy going on this as mum? Though she kept sending me weird glances, like she was my best friend or something, every time Jared said something sweet or looked at me.

"Um… school," Jared answered.

"No job?" dad asked, disapproving clear in his voice.

"Not yet, sir," Jared said uncertainly. He looked at me from the corner of his eye, pleading silently for help.

"Um, dad, I got my History-test back today," I said. Okay, so that was a lie. I tiny lie. But nothing pleased my dad more than good grades, which was why I didn't tell him about my English presentation. And Jared would do wisely in not telling about his either. Dad would think Jared had bad influence on me.

"How'd it go?" dad asked, genuinely interested.

"Top grade," I boasted. Jared let out a very low, amused sound that only I could hear, and I saw a slight smile on his lips as he ate. I had to work hard not to smile myself. I'd never been a good liar, and Gina said that I always had these slight smiling wrinkles on my cheeks, which didn't disappear before I was _really_ serious. And that was very rarely, she meant.

"Great, kiddo," dad bragged, and went on with asking how Jared was doing in school. Dinner was long and awkward, and it was a relief when we both collapsed on my bed, lying next to each other and staring up at the ceiling.

"Sorry about my dad," I apologized. Jared chuckled slightly, and the mattress shook under us. He didn't comment, and we lay in silence for a few minutes, enjoying each other's presence.

"Tell me something about you," Jared asked softly.

"What?"

"Something random."

I thought for a moment. "I hate cold chocolate," I told him.

"Why?" he asked, surprised.

"When it's cold then it's too hard to actually taste it. I usually put it in the microwave oven when I'm eating it," I admitted with a goofy giggle.

"Doesn't it melt?" he asked in an amused voice.

"Not if I'm careful. And if it does, I just eat it with a spoon," I explained. He laughed. "Hey, a girl needs her chocolate," I grinned, blushing slightly. "Your turn."

"I… used to be afraid of the dark," he admitted.

"Used to?"

"I can see better in the dark now that I'm a werewolf. No dangers lurking in the shadows," he said, his voice drifting off into nothing as he turned his head to look at me. I turned mine too, staring into his deep, dark eyes.

"I used to be afraid of the dark, too," I told him in a whisper.

"Used to?" he copied me.

"Till I met you," I answered, my cheeks flaming red. "I'm not afraid anymore."

He looked at me with eyes filled with emotion, and the dark, brown color melted as he smiled at me.

"Good," he breathed. Another silence followed. Not an awkward silence, a very enjoyable silence. I was captured by the way his eyes flickered over my face, like he was amazed by my beauty. I knew that it was the imprinting doing its duty, but I still felt flattered.

"Another one," he asked me.

"I never had another boyfriend," I said. He frowned.

"Really?"

"Yup. Boys don't like me." He opened his mouth to protest, and I cut him off quickly. "_Human_ boys don't like me," I corrected myself. He pressed his lips together, and studied me.

"And they're not allowed either. But I still find it hard to believe," he told me. I rolled my eyes.

"How many girlfriends have you had?" I asked to change the subject.

"Just two before you," he said, shrugging a little. Well, _I_ thought that was more than enough. He seemed to notice my unhappy frown, and smiled slyly. "But they weren't _nearly_ as adorable and interesting as you are," he added.

"That's the imprint-magic speaking," I muttered, flushing red again. He smiled at my blush, as always.

We stayed like that all day, only interrupted once when mum stuck her head in to say she and dad was going with Gretchen to her class' get together. We were alone in the house, but we still stayed in my room, spread across my bed, which was way too small for Jared's huge body. After a while I longed so much to be closer to him that I pulled myself closer, and he wrapped his strong, warm arms around me and held me close. Every now and then he would lean closer to kiss me, on the mouth, on my cheek, my forehead or even the tip of my nose.

I was aware of the howling before Jared.

"What's that?" I asked, snapping him out of his dazed condition. He listened, and then froze.

"I have to go," he said slowly, looking at me with regret in his eyes.

"Sure," I said, trying not to sound too sad. I knew it wasn't because of me. I would have been an idiot if I hadn't understood _that_ by now. I knew he would always want me and that he wouldn't want anyone else, but it still stung to have him leave me.

"Maybe I'll be back later," he said doubtfully.

"It's okay," I assured him, shaking my head. "I'll do some homework or something."

He looked at me, longing, and we heard another howl. He growled lowly.

Then he gave me a quick hug and a kiss on the forehead.

"Can you tell me what's going on?" I asked in a small voice.

"Jacob phased," Jared said shortly before leaping out me now wide-open window. Another werewolf? Well, he would have to tell me about that tomorrow.

I wondered briefly how Jared could know that just by hearing the howls. Maybe they had their own language. Wouldn't surprise me.

The evening was long and lonely without Jared. After a while I heard the rest of my family come home, but I didn't leave my room to greet them. I went to bed early, but I couldn't sleep. I kept tossing and turning in my bed, worrying about Jared.

I remembered when Embry had phased for the first time. He had been dangerous. What is Jacob was too much for the others to handle? Or what if he snapped and hurt one of the other wolf-boys? What if Jared got hurt?

I should know that my worries were stupid.

Embry had only been dangerous for me, and just because I had been at the wrong place at the wrong time. And he hadn't meant it. Maybe Jacob took it better than Embry. And Jacob was one of Embry's friends, as far as I understood, so Embry would be happy.

Thoughts about werewolves and supernatural creatures kept me occupied for hours, and when I finally drifted off to sleep, it turned into a nightmarish and restless night of sleep.

* * *

**Yeah, yeah, I know, this was shorter than the others. **

**W for werewolf, of course, how stupid can I get! Well, it's weekend, I can't be blamed. **

**I'm feeling that I'm getting closer to an end here. I don't think anything else will happen now, just a few chapters with meaningless happenings and explanations or something.**

**I just don't want to let go of this story. This is the first time I might actually finish something! **

**I love reviews, people! The longer, the better. I don't think it's even worth answering reviews that says "great story" or "update soon". They're a little boring, though they're better than nothing. **

**If there's something - anything - you want to say, if I spelled something wrong or whatever, just tell me. I like to know there's life outside this room. **

**Okay, I have nothing more to say. **

**But if you have any ideas for something that could happen in the next (and last) three-four chapters, please tell me. **

**If there's nothing you have to say on my story, you could just leave a review and answer me this: **

**If you could chose: werewolf-boyfriend (imrpint) or vampire-boyfriend?**


	25. Right

**Here's (finally) chapter 25!!**

**Enjoy!**

**And I don't own anything.. darn..**

* * *

I was woken up by three rapid sounds of something small hitting something hard. I instantly sat up, looking around myself in a dazed condition. I yawned involuntarily and stretched. Another chopping sound drew my attention to the window, and I hopped down to the cold floor and hurried over to it.

I looked out, and was surprised to see Jared on the ground, grinning up at me with a handful of pebbles. I suddenly didn't feel tired at all anymore, it was replaced by an ecstatic and eager feeling that made my toes curl. I opened the window, and couldn't hide my own smile as I asked:

"What are you doing?" in a whispering voice.

"Want to come out?" he hissed back.

"Really?" I asked in disbelief. He nodded, smiling invitingly. "Two seconds." I grabbed a black hoodie from the floor, dragged on some socks and the only pair of shoes I had in my bedroom: Gym shoes.

Then I climbed up in the window and looked down. It looked just as far down as the last time, only now Jared held his big, strong arms out to catch me. Without hesitating, I pushed myself out of the window frame.

The next thing I felt was warmth of being cradled to Jared's body. I opened my eyes, which I had closed during the free fall, and stared right into his wide, dark eyes and boastful smirk.

"Nice catch," I complimented him jokingly.

"Thanks," he answered with a wolfish grin (no pun intended) and set me to my feet.

"Why the sudden change of heart?" I asked as I started walking away from my house.

"Just wanted to see you," he told me, and that made my heart flutter. I smiled giddily at him, biting my lip a little. I wanted to see him too. I always did.

"How did things go with Jacob?" I asked, only mildly interested.

"Not so good," Jared answered me, a bit sullenly. "I'll tell you some other time," he said automatically, but it didn't matter very much to me. Funny, now that he had learned to tell me everything about his werewolf-life, I didn't even care.

Or, I mean, of course I cared. But I was more certain now that he would tell me anyway, and that he wasn't hiding stuff from me anymore, so I didn't need to constantly go thinking about it.

"What do you want for your birthday?" Jared asked out of the blue.

"You don't have to get me anything," I told him quietly.

"That's not even a question. Do you want to celebrate it or something?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Can't it just be… us?" I asked.

"Sure it can," Jared answered, a smile in his voice. My stomach fluttered in excitement already, and I did a tiny jump in ecstasy. That put me out of balance, and I stumbled forwards. Jared caught me by my arms long before I hit the ground, and straightened me.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Sure," I said, waving it away.

"Are y –"

"New rule," I cut him off. "When I say that I'm okay, I _am_ okay."

He shook his head, smiling, but agreed.

"I think we might have to write all these rules down," he mused.

"Maybe," I grinned.

We stayed out a couple of hours, then he followed me home. He got us both safely through the window, and saw that I was safely tucked away in my bed before he motioned to leave.

"Don't go," I pleaded automatically. A smile crept over his face.

"You want me to stay here all night?" he asked, smiling as if he liked that idea very much.

"If you don't mind?" I answered. He shook his head, still grinning, and I scooted over to make room for him. He lay down elegantly next to me, and we faced each other.

"Wonder what your father would think of this," Jared muttered, and I giggled.

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him."

"You're going to be dead on your feet tomorrow."

"And you're not?" I asked, smirking. "I don't think you've been sleeping in days."

"I've been up longer," he shrugged.

"I'm sure you have," I said, nodding hugely.

"That's true."

"What's your personal record?" That silenced him.

"I don't keep count?" he tried. I snorted.

"Right."

A hard tapping sound woke me up. The first thing I noticed was how warm it was. I tried to focus my sight, shaking my head to concentrate. I couldn't move.

"Kim!" mum's high-pitched voice yelled through the door. "Kim?"

"What?" I asked, dazed. I experimentally tried to lift my arms, but they wouldn't budge.

"Are you up?"

"Uh… yeah," I answered. _Almost_…

Horrified I realized what was holding me down.

"Jared!" I hissed, trying to turn my body to look at him. I was pressed with my back against his chest, and his freakishly warm and heavy arm pinned me down. He didn't respond to me, so I tried again. "Jared, wake up!"

Nothing.

Heavy sleeper, obviously.

I twisted my arm so that I could touch his with my hand. I nudged it gently, and then harder.

"Jared!" I hissed again, starting to lose my patience. One glance at the little blue numbers on my radio told me I had about thirty minutes till school started.

I started to panic a little, and tried to roll my way out from under his arm. He instinctively tightened his grip. I huffed in annoyance.

"Get up," I ordered a little louder. "Come on…" I pushed his arm with my body, and a loud whimper escaped me because of the effort I put into it.

"Kimmy?" asked mum's voice from the outside.

"I'm fine!" I answered angrily. I took a deep breath, sucked in all the air I could, and then I yelled:

"JARED!"

His reaction was instantaneous. He jumped out of the bed, letting go of me in the process, and leaped to the middle of my bedroom.

"Kim?" mum asked.

Jared stared at me, bewildered.

"On the phone, mum," I explained hurriedly.

"What?" mum's steps came closer to my door.

"Don't come in!" I screamed hysterically. The steps stopped. "I… I'm not dressed," I excused myself poorly. "And I'm talking to Jared on the phone."

Mum muttered something, but she didn't come in.

"You," I whispered, pointing to Jared. "Have serious problems."

"What?" he asked, still standing in the middle of my room.

"Do you know how hard it is to wake you?" I asked. He seemed to think about it. He looked very tired, so I just grumbled and nodded my head pointedly to the window.

"Get out," I said.

"See you soon," he answered, still sounding a little confused. He was out the window in one swift leap, and I let out a relieved sigh.

Who says I'm not good?

I'm a genius.

The rest of the morning went by in a blur. I usually need much time in the morning, so I almost ran out to Jared's car.

He, of course, had been waiting for fifteen minutes. Boys just have it so much easier.

At lunch I noticed that Cameron was back. He avoided everyone's eyes, but that didn't stop the oh-so-not-silent whispers when he passed. Alex surprised me by laughing out loud when she saw it. I looked at her curiously, wondering if she was faking it or if she really was that content.

Well, Alex always did surprise me, so why not?

Maybe she simply was _that_ good?

I ignored it when Cameron sent me an angry glare as he sat down by a table – alone -, but Gina let out a small laugh, sending him a smirk over her shoulder.

"This is _so_ fun," she told us with a grin. Alex grimaced, and I rolled my eyes.

Gina would always be Gina, I guess.

"Jared, I'm just wondering," Gina said. I noticed her the sly glimpse in her eyes and wondered what she was up to this time. Jared turned his attention to her, though a little reluctantly. "Why are you never with your friends anymore?"

I looked at Jared, because I wondered about too. I'd never thought about it, but now that Gina mentioned it… Well, I guess it made sense. After he became a werewolf, like Embry, he couldn't be with his friends because it was too much of a risk and they couldn't know.

Alex also lit up by the question, turning half the way around to see the table where Jared's old friends sat. I noticed that they didn't even seem to notice Jared's absence. I stifled a snort. Boys were so weird.

"Because we grew apart," Jared answered smoothly. It was clear that he had expected this one time or another.

"But surely you do have _some_ guy friends?" Gina continued. I felt the urge to roll my eyes again. She wasn't very good at hinting. She practically spilled it all once.

"I do, just not in school," was Jared's easy answer.

"Who?" Gina challenged.

Then the bell rang.

I snickered at the cliché.

_Saved by the bell._

* * *

**Yeah, yeah, nine days, I know. **

**But it's because we had our exams this week! Or, today. It went very well, thank you very much for asking (not). **

**We had a presentation about Wuthering Heights and classics. Yay. **

**And to answer my own question, I would chose werewolf as well. I think it was just one who chose vampire, but I think it would be a little creepy.. **

**I like warm. **

**For the ones that is interested, I also wrote a one-shot about Kim's POV in the bonfire in Eclipse. That was just the result of writer's block. But I'd like to hear what you think. **

**New question(s): **

**1: Have anyone ever happened to see a _boy_ who writes or read fanfictions? I've only seen girls. **

**2: Darn. I had a good question... In my mind. Things usually gets lost in there. My friend has a note on her bedroom door: "Welcome to the end of all brain activity" or something like that. That should be my middle name..**

**Okay, okay, I've got a new one:**

**No. **

**Lost it. **

**New one... hm...**

**Okay, I got it, but it's not as good as the one I had in mind: **

**What did you think of the New Moon trailer??**


	26. Ending

**I'm no good with endings! I hate them! I can't seem to get this right..**

**But here it is. **

**I don't own anything.**

* * *

"Dad? What was going on on your head here?" I asked. I was sitting in the kitchen with the family photo album in front of me, looking at a picture of my dad from the eighties.

"Where?" dad asked. He came in to the room, looking at me from across the floor. I held up the album for him.

"There. Did you have a fight with the reaper or something?"

Dad came over to me, looking over my shoulder.

"It was in those days," he defended.

"Suuuuure it was," I said. "And here. What were you _wearing_?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"It's… just not good. And mum. Seriously, why did you let her have her hair that way? It's worse than yours."

"When you're old, your kids will say that to you too," dad told me. I snorted.

"Never. I'm timeless." He laughed a little. "When was this?" I asked, and pointed to a picture with mum, dad and a guy I didn't recognize. Dad slid down next to me, and I glanced over to see a happy expression on his face.

_Yes!_

"That's… a couple of years before you were born. That's Oliver, your mother's brother. Your uncle."

"Uncle Ols?" I asked, studying the picture. "Wow, he looked _good_."

Dad laughed.

I was being _nice_.

I was spending time with my old dad, because it made him happy.

I was proud of myself.

When I finally had to go for my date (swoon) with Jared (birthday-date, actually), dad padded my shoulder, and smiled wider than I could remember him ever having smiled before. I couldn't help it but grin back. I had actually had a good time.

"I'm going out," I told him as I rushed past the kitchen. I had packed a bag with food and stuff I needed, and I was just eager to get out. I smashed the front door open, and jumped back in shock. Jared stood with his arm raised as if he was going to ring the bell.

"Wow," he said, grinning.

"I know. It's called _telepathy_," I said, grinning back.

"It's called coincidence," he insisted.

"Telepathy."

"Coincidence."

"Telepathy."

"Coincidence."

"Jealous?"

"I can read minds, so, no," he said.

"Darn," I said, rolling my eyes. We got into his car, and he drove to the beach. There he took my bag (always the gentleman…) and we found our place on land.

"And it's not even raining," I said happily as I collapsed on the rug we had laid out. "I chose a good day to be born."

Jared chuckled as he sat down next to me.

"So," he said with a grin. "What did you get for your birthday?"

"New iPod," I smiled.

"Didn't you already have one?"

"Yes, but it was _green_. And it had no screen. This one is pink."

Jared seemed to be holding back a laugh, so I just continued. "And… a shirt from Alex. She always gives me clothes. Nuts from Gina, and socks. Private joke. Gretchen gave me a drawing of me and her. It was cute," I mused.

"You didn't get one from me yet," Jared reminded me.

"Am I going to?"

"If you want to."

"I want to," I said, smiling reassuringly. There was no point in _not_ accepting gifts. That was just plain stupid.

"It's not much," he said apologetically, reaching for the bag. He dragged out a box he must have slipped into the bag when I wasn't looking, and handed it to me. I measured it with my eyes. The box was about 25 centimeters long and 15 centimeters tall. I shook it gently, but I couldn't hear anything.

"It's _inside_," Jared said dryly. I rolled my eyes, and slipped the lid off.

The first thing I saw was brown. I picked it up, and saw that it was a wolf- shaped stuffed animal with dark, brown thick fur. It had big, dark eyes and a string around its neck with a note fastened to it. It said:

_Jared Gray_

_Property of Kim Connweller _

I looked up at Jared, a big smile plastered on my face.

"That's uber-cute!" I squealed, and threw my arms around his neck. He caught me automatically, hugging me back.

"Really?" he asked, sounding hopeful like a little child.

"Yes!"

I pulled back.

"And I can see the resemblance," I told him. "Though you're a little bigger." The toy-wolf was just about twenty centimeters tall. Tiny.

"I look _way_ cuter than he does," Jared said with a frown.

"_Now_ you're jealous," I stated.

"I'm never jealous."

"How about now?" I asked, and put the little wolf to my face. I gave it a quick kiss, and then smiled to Jared.

"A little," Jared admitted. "Can I have one too?"

"If you ask nicely."

"Kim, can I _please_ have a kiss?" he asked. I laughed and scooted closer to him.

"Since you're such a cutie," I told him before I kissed him softly. Or, it was _supposed_ to be soft. But as I didn't pull away after a few seconds, we got carried away. When I finally needed to breathe, we were both lying on the rug, him hovering over me.

"You know," Jared said, looking at me, still holding himself up over me. "This is actually sort of amusing."

"That I can't breathe?" I said a little breathless. He nodded his head, smiling playfully.

"Tell me when you're ready for more," he told me, and I giggled.

"You're really insatiable, aren't you?"

"I'm what?"

"Nothing."

And with that I heard a clinging little sound that told me that I had gotten a new text message. I moved to sit up, and he jumped out of my way at once. I reached for my bag, picking my phone out of it.

It was from Alex.

_Need to talk! Call me!_

Yeah right.

_I_ was busy.

She probably sent a text so she wouldn't have to call herself. Sms's were faster and cheaper.

So I chose to ignore her.

"Who was it?"

"Nosy."

"Alex?"

"You looked!" I accused.

"Yeah. What's up?"

"Nothing important," I answered as I thrust it over to the bag. I missed, of course. I wrapped my arms around me, beaming up at Jared.

"Are you cold?" he asked instantly. I nodded eagerly, and he dragged me closer, throwing his arms around me. I snuggled closer to him.

"Are you planning to go to college?" Jared asked me suddenly.

"Um…" I hadn't thought about that before. Now that he mentioned it… how would _that_ work out? Then I would have to _leave_ here. "Are you?"

"I can't. I have to stay here. Prote –"

"Protectors, right," I finished for him. That made it even harder.

Did I really need college? I mean, _really_? Wasn't it possible to get a job without? I didn't need all that education. I could sell ice-cream if I had to. I didn't mind.

I would _so_ never have thought that before. Only… now, it seemed like being with Jared was so much more important than education. I didn't want to leave. And when he couldn't come with me?

"So?" he pressed.

"I… don't know," I said in a sad voice. He tightened his grip.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you," Jared apologized, sounding almost agonized.

"No, no, no. It's okay," I said hurriedly. I turned to look at him. "Really," I said sincerely.

"Are you s –"

"Oy!" I cut him off. "Against the rules!"

He laughed.

I could think about college some other time. Now was a _happy_ time.

"Okay, then," he said, smiling. I tensed my body to get closer, and he nearly lifted me up so that I could reach his face. He crushed his lips to mine before I did, and wrapped his arm around my waist, dragging me closer. I responded by tangling my fingers into his hair, hoisting myself up so that I was literally sitting on his lap.

He abruptly changed positions, and pushed me back so that I was on my back again, like before. I forgot everything about time and place.

And then my phone rang.

We both groaned at the same time.

"Never mind," I said, tugging Jared's shirt. He came back down to me immediately, and we continued where we left, and ignored the sound of my cheery ringtone ringing its way out.

Two seconds later it started again. I pulled away, looking hesitantly over at it. Jared let out an annoyed sound.

"Do you think it's important?" I asked.

"No," he said before taking over my lips again.

"Gimme it," I ordered with difficulties. He made a pleading sound, and I giggled. "Two seconds."

He growled as he stretched over and got my phone.

"Alex," he said before he motioned to throw it away.

"No! It might be important!"

"But you said –"

"Here," I demanded, holding my hand out. He reluctantly handed it to me, and added a puppy dog-_glare_ at me. Holding back my laugh, I answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Kim?" said Alex's voice in the other end.

"Alex?" I asked.

"Kim you have _no idea_ what just happened!" Alex said in a thick voice.

"What is it?" I asked, confused. Was she sad, or not?

I pushed against Jared's chest, and he hesitantly moved away. I held my phone a little tighter when I saw his glare on it. I could almost see his plans about ripping it out of my hand and throwing it out in the water, so I sent him a warning glance.

"I just met the most _gorgeous_ guy you can _ever_ imagine!" Alex squealed.

Happy.

Definitely.

I heard Jared groan loudly. "Another one?" he muttered, hearing what Alex said. He turned to me. "Please?" he mouthed, moving his hand towards my phone. I dodged it with an evil smirk, and settled myself a little away from him on the rug.

"Tell me _all_ about it, Alex," I told her, and winked at Jared, who turned even more desperate. "And don't leave out even the _tiniest_ little detail."

* * *

**So, yeah. **

**That's it.  
**

**I'm dead on my feet today. I was up 24 hours and walking over a mountain at night, six hours! It was cold and dirty and sweaty at the same time. No kidding. Since this is our "senior"-year (norwegian school-system) this was sort of our end-of-term celebration. It was nice, sort of, but I came home like seven in the morning and rang the doorbell at my own house. That was a little miserable. **

**So I'm _really_ tired now...**

**Most of you liked the New Moon-trailer, so I guess I'm the freak. **

**I just didn't think Jacob was big enough in his wolf-form! And not fast enough either. Same with the vampires, they weren't fast enough or strong enough, even in the first film. Or that's what I think. Maybe the film is better...**

**Thank's for the help with American school systemt, too (Ginaaaa and Beauty Eclipsed), it was really helpful. **

**I don't like anonymous reviewers! I can't answer to them! So I'll just thank them here: **

**dreamgal1 (hope you were happy with the punch.)**

**Heather xx (I finished!)**

**chantal (Thanks for a detailed review!! I love those..)**

**Sally (Mm, I love imprinting too.. *dreamy sigh*)**

**Nicole (I actually like the secondary characters better, almost. Dunno why, but they're fun..)**

**Mrs jasper cullen (W for werewolves! Duh! Smart..)**

**soulgal (Look, I updated *grins*)**

**mccuee (I hadn't actually thought of that.. Maybe. I don't know. Thanks for the honesty! I appreciate it!)**

**MyNameIsJustine (My name is not Justine, but I like werewolves too!)**

**shar (I would have no problem with imprinting. I would love it!!)**

**The One Who Writes Words (What a coincidence! I write words too! And I love super-long reviews. Thanks for reading my story!)**

******chocolateluver101 (I love chocolate too!)**

**That was all the anonymous reviews. Now, go get an account! **

**I _think_ that was it. **


	27. Not a chapter

**THIS IS NOT A CHAPTER!**

**It's a thank-you to all my reviewers for my story and information in the end! **

**If you don't want to read about my reviewers, go straight to the end or whatever. **

Okay, now that that's settled...

I hate it when the chapters are author's notes, but since this story is finished, then I hope that you don't mind.

So.

Since I thanked all my anonymous reviewers in last chapter, I just thought it was unfair that I didn't thank the non-anonymous reviewers (did that make sense?).

**InWayTooDeep:** My first reviewer _ever_ who I miss. I have no idea where you went!! But still, I love your reviews! They were so fun and lively and happy and conversational. Miss you!

**ladybug81 **

**Helewisetran: **Who wanted me to continue. You are part of the reason this ever became more than a one-shot!

**Jacobleah**

**mhgood: **Your first review made me so glad! And all the others after that. Thanks _so _for all the great feedback.

**Candy Cullen: **You're a great reviewer, really! A little violent, though. I mean, you wanted to kill Cameron or get him covered in slime... I _almost_ feel sorry for him. And thanks for telling me about the New Moon trailer. I can be a little slow sometimes.

**Jake1212 **

**becksishere: **Your reviews allways make me smile!! Thank you so much!

**FlowHeart**

**TheyDidn'tHaveMyName**

**cimba**

**cklovewinter: **I love your reviews so much! And I'm sorry, but it seems like the Paul/Rachel story will have to wait. I've started _another _one, including the sequel to this... And thanks for wishing me good luck on my exams.

**cards-kc: **Thanks for short, but good reviews. You go straight to the point!!

**Cornie Cullen**

**lovenotwarXo: **Lucky you, I've started an Embry/OC imprint story! It's very different from this. Thanks for giving my story a chance even if you're Team Edward!!

**2charm2charm2**

**twilight0452: **Well, our dearest Cam didn't end up in prison, but... Yeah.

**DawnzNo1 12 : **

**Ginaaaa: **Gina likes you because you have the same name too! =P

**Gryffindor Gurl2**

**Sibel88**

**Vampreader**

**Jared's Kim**

**MyNameIsJustine: **Thanks for very detailed review. Those are definitely the best!

**i got no talent **(I'm sure you must have _some_ talent..)

**Mared and the Jarcuses**

**Beauty Eclipsed**

**deeana**

**.Anything4luv. **

**Lov3good **

**ChaosHasCome: **Since you wanted more action: I think there'll be more action in my sequel, or that's what I've planned. But I'm not a good planner, so...

**snoopy-x**

**pinkandpurplelillies **

**Goldangel121 **

**RamenSteaker **

That was all, I think.

If I forgot someone, please tell me. I appreciate all kinds of reviews!!

Oh, and I didn't answer to everyone here, because it took so incredibly long time. But I love you all equally!

Okay, that's all, I guess.

Oh, I've also started another story...

Yeah, the idea was stuck in my head, so now I've written a few chapters of it. I need to think through the plot a little more, but I think I'll post it sometime soon.

It's an EmbryxOC imprint story.

So, that's it.


	28. THIS IS NOT A CHAPTER EITHER

HI PEOPLE!

Long time no see, eh?

I've had like a six month pause from all this fanfiction-stuff. It's been refreshing. I don't feel like I HAVE to update all the time. At the end I felt like I had to prioritize fanfiction and all that.

But now I miss it.

I don't have the energy or the time or the inspiration to start a new story at the moment, but I've been re-reading this story, which was my first ever. I miss writing it.

So.

I've been thinking that I may rewrite it?

I haven't started anything yet, I was just wondering if anyone was interested. I won't erase this one of course. I would post it as a new story. I think I would follow the same plotline.

I've missed you guys... hope you've missed me too, if only a little bit...?

Well.

I hope some of you will leave a review or something.

BYE!


	29. sorry

Okay, so I got a few reviews and a few PM's on my last chapter/author's note (I'm sorry there's so many of them, this is the only way everyone gets the message) aaaaand, I will not rewrite this story. Obviously a lot of you didn't find this as excting and fun as me, and that's okay. Some of you kind of crushed me.

But I'm over it. I'm not too crushable. I'm like a cockroach, whatever you do, I'll walk away from it.

I'm annoying that way.

Aaaaaand, I will not write a sequel either. I've said this before, but I'm saying it again. I planned to, but then I suddenly lost my muse. And it doesn't look like it's coming back anytime soon. I've realized I only write when I'm down. Right now I'm not down. I'm up. Last year I didn't really like my class, my best friend got a boyfriend and therefore she didn't have much time for me, so I felt a little lonely.

But then her boyfriend turned out to be quite nice and we became friends, then they broke up and he went away to go to school somewhere (he's coming back for Christmas though) so now she has all the time in the world for me. I also started a new school and I like my class a lot more. And there's this guy I really like who seems to really like me too.

Maybe not very interesting... but that's why I don't take the time to write anymore. I'm sorry. I miss you guys a lot.

But maybe when my best friend's ex comes back they'll get back together, the guy I'm into will realize I'm a total freak and find someone a little more normal and my class will not like me anymore, I will come back to you.

Until then, BYE!

P.S.: I'm sorry if my English is getting worse. It's been a long time since I wrote regulary. My grades are one of the things that benefited from this whole fanfiction-business. My mum was proud of me. She gave me cookies.


End file.
